Post No. 9: A Tale of Two Schoolboys

Once there was a school boy named Volodymyr.  He had a friend with a similar name which was Vladimir.  Volodymyr spent a lot of time with Vladimir until a part of Volodymyr began to think that he liked other school boys better. When Volodymyr stopped playing with him, Vladimir became very upset.  He knew he had a reputation as a bully because he had pushed other school children around and it seemed like there were only a few people in the schoolyard who liked him.  So one day Vladimir became very angry and he jumped on top of Volodymyr. He began to violently punch him in the face.  Some of the other school children tried to help Volodymyr but it was to no avail. Vladimir just kept wailing away at Volodymyr.  Finally an adult school yard aide stepped in and stopped the fighting.  She told Vladimir that he had to go to the principals office immediately and said to Volodymyr that he would have to speak later to the principal.

When Vladimir entered the office, the principal said that he would be immediately suspended for a minimum of three days, and he faced possible expulsion depending on what the principal found out about the incident. Vladimir immediately tried to defend himself by saying that Volodymyr refused to talk with him and was ignoring him and playing only with his new friends. Vladimir said it was like he was being bullied not the other way around.  He stated that he had friends who agreed with him.

When Volodymyr entered the principals office, the principal immediately asked him what was the reason for the fighting. Volodymyr said that Vladimir just jumped on him for no reason and that Vladimir is just a big bully.  Volodymyr said there was no reason for what Vladimir did and that all of Volodymyr’s friends agreed with him.  The principal replied that Vladimir believes that he was being bullied because Volodymyr was once a friend who stopped talking to him and then got all his other friends to stop talking to him.  Volodymyr said that no that was not true.

So the principal checked with Vladimir’s other friends to see if they agreed that he was being bullied by Volodymyr by getting people not to speak with him. Vladimir’s friends said yes they think that was true.

The principal was in a dilemma and not sure what to do. The principal was glad that the adults intervened and stopped the violence and bullying going on in the schoolyard. This was something she was convinced would no longer be accepted and that anyone being violent in the future in the schoolyard would be immediately stopped and expelled. She was a little chagrined at the school aide who did not stop the fight beforehand when it became apparent that Vladimir was very angry and threatening toward Volodomyr. One thing the principal was confident about. At least the adults had taken control of the situation and they would find a solution eventually.  She knew there were shades of gray in this situation and that they would get to the bottom of it after some objective  investigating.  Stay tuned.

(An allegory, but the last part has yet to be realized. Is there a wise and powerful principal out there somewhere?  Perhaps in North America? In Asia? In Europe? In Africa? Let’s hope one emerges. In the meantime, the other schoolchildren keep trying to push Vladimir off of Volodyrmyr.  That may or may not end it. Let’s hope a wise adult emerges soon. Even then the “principal was in a dilemma and not sure what to do”.  This story will continue).