As in every incident that we experience, there are so many lessons to be learned.
By now, many Americans have come to know, Karen Kline, the school bus monitor who was verbally abused and brought to tears by a bunch of kids who made fun of her.
Since the airing of this humiliating and dreadful video, life has really turned around for Karen. In large part due to Max Sidorov. He leveraged technology and enlisted a bunch of good hearted people. Karen Kline's story has turned around; it’s a story now filled with compassion, hope, strength, and a great reminder of how a larger community can work together.
As in every incident that we experience, there are so many lessons to be learned. As a parent and educator, I saw this as another wake up call for us to revaluate the educational system in America, and the importance of introducing the “mentch factor” into the very fabric of educating the next generation.
It is easy for people to say -- oh well, kids will be kids – or to see this incident as an isolated occurrence, but the unfortunate truth is that this problem is more of a crisis and clearly one that requires a lot more of our attention then it is currently receiving.
I recently came across a letter sent in 1963 from my teacher, the Rebbe to the then chairman of the international teachers association, Mr. S. Levine,: "...the same contemplation also brings the realization that the public schools have not succeeded in the area of the student’s personality development, in training him to curb his desires. It is only thanks to the influence of the home and religious instruction that this generation’s youth have not completely cast off the constraints of civilization and turned the world into a jungle.”
With that being a sentiment and concern in 1963, when family values and the sense of community was so much more intact…Today, the new digital reality making the world available at our fingertips and with our children more vulnerable to all types influences than ever before, how much more so.
In one of his many metaphors, the Baal Shemtov compares certain times in our lives when we are like the person who was asleep in the wagon as it was driven from sea level to a very high altitude. In the metaphor, because of the far reaching flat land, this high level is not noticeable to the observer unless he was awake as he climbed the great road. The Baal Shemtov uses this analogy to remind us of the times when we are unaware what is really happening because of our lack of perspective.
We desperately need a round-table discussion on the education system, with a level-headed and forward-thinking perspective.
The good news is, when we recognize the true challenges and issues our society is now facing we become empowered to make changes. In turn we get to empower our children with the best tools so that they are in touch with their inner internal light, the light that happens when children get a chance to experience the beauty that emerges bringing joy to a fellow human being.
Indeed it is very much within our reach to illuminate the darkness that brings about such hurtful stories like Karen Kline’s. The "advantage" in this "sadness" is waiting for us in our reaction.