When good parents go stupid.

A small group of parents in JoCo stood outside a middle school yesterday protesting after district leaders suddenly told their children not to report for class Monday. The best I can decipher it, the kids were in a special needs school and were told they would be going to the regular school, due to an unforeseen high enrollment the parents were told the kids wouldn't be able to attend that school. The parents are pissed, which is a reasonable reaction, so they decided to protest. Someone told the local news stations who came ready with cameras, filmed the protest and stuck it on the news. So far so good right? Wrong. The parents in their infinite wisdom decided to bring at least a couple of the kids along to hold signs while school buses drove past them and the cameras filmed them. I'd like to be the first to congratulate these chowder heads for ensuring that their children will be ostracised, singled out, and ridiculed . Unless JoCo kids are somehow less kid like, they are going to be merciless. Newsflash , kids can be cruel, especially when it comes to another kid being "Different".

When I was a kid, probably in second or third grade, there was this fat kid named Joey Jekyll, his real name. Every day after school he could be found trudging down Oak st heading home. He always walked alone, head down, shoulders hunched over, it was almost like he was trying to draw up and hide inside himself like a turtle. Kids can be pretty fucking brutal when they put their minds to it, so it should come as no surprise that Joey was the target of more than his share of bullying and ridicule. I remember a day when I was walking with a couple of other kids and we crossed Joey's path. One of the boys I was with started mimicking Joey, mocking him. He had this funny voice, sort of like Peter Lorie, the guy who played Igor in the old Frankenstein movies. When kids teased him Joey would always say the same thing " Leave me alone", every word was drawn out so it came out in that nasal voice as Leeeeeve Meeeee Aloooooone. As I write this it dawned on me that those three words are the only thing I recall ever hearing him say.

I usually just laughed along with the others, but never really said or did anything to him myself. For some reason, on that particular day, I decided to join in and mock this poor, fat, lonely kid.
It was also the day Joey decided he had had enough of the bullshit, and he cracked me in the head with his lunchbox. Joey didn't have the typical 1960's era lunchbox with The Monkees or GI Joe decorating the thin metal box. Joey had one of those heavy gauge metal lunch boxes that your dad or uncle would carry. So when Joey dropped the hammer and peeled my melon for me with that lunchbox, it got my attention. It hurt, it stunned me, and when my buddies snickered it pissed me off. By the time the shock of getting whacked in the head by this mild mannered kid wore off, he was a good 20 paces in front of me. With a wounded ego, and the sound of the other little shit heels laughter egging me on, I caught up to Joey, grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. I heard "Leeeeeve Meeeee Alooooone", and then I saw where the tears had left streaks on his pudgy face. The bruised ego was replaced with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I let him go. I never bothered him again, but the damage was done.

So whats my point and why couldn't I make it quicker? My point is these parents have every right to fight tooth and nail for what they believe is in the best interest of their children. What they shouldn't do is drag the kid out in public and parade them around in front of news cameras. They have done more harm than good. If their kids do get moved to the regular school you can bet your milk money they are going to have a tough row to hoe.