"In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max’s toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog…When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I went nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out…But the worst thing I ever done — I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa — and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life." - Chunk, The Goonies film
One of my favorite characters from the kids film The Goonies is Chunk, the overweight youngster that's given all the funny lines. A group of kids are in search of a pirate's treasure with the help of a map they find. In the above scene, Chunk is kidnapped by a family of thieves and is being questioned of everything he knows about them, which is obviously nothing because of his funny answers.
This week I came across an article about a couple of child actors who actually grew up into something more significant in life. By the time most child actors become adults they are found to be in either drug rehab or jail, unfortunately. So it was good to hear about a couple of kids who made something of themselves. Both Jeff Cohen who played Chunk, and Josh Saviano whose better known as the geek Paul Pfeiffer from The Wonder Years are now attorneys. A far cry from Hollywood and all it's glitter.
By now I am sure you've heard the story of the 68 year old bullied bus monitor. A story that made national headlines and for good reason. Some foolish 7th grade boys video taped their bullying of the grandmother and put the tape on You Tube. And the next thing you know:
The whole world knows about it.
The kids now may be suspended for all of the next school year.
And the grandmother, who was a part time bus monitor, can now retire luxuriously; thanks to a website organization who was only seeking donations totaling a couple of thousand dollars to give this humiliated woman a vacation. So far they have raised over $500,000!!!
Hopefully this dreadful act of school bullying has increased the awareness of it and the damage it can cause.
