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History Leroy is a healthy seventeen year old male. He would be considered popular by his classmates and friends. Leroy is the quarterback of the local high school football team. Leroy also volunteers at the local nursing home, hospital, and animal shelter. Leroy is a good student and makes high marks for his class. When Leroy graduates he plans on continuing onto college to pursue his dream of playing professional football.
A new girl at school, Melissa, has been turning down Leroy’s sexual advances. The other young men on Leroy’s football team laughed and teased Leroy because of Melissa’s actions. Leroy jokingly tell the other young men that she is a homosexual. All of the young men take Leroy seriously and start telling other peers that Melissa is homosexual.
Melissa is trying to make friends and fit in at a new school. The rumor has a detrimental affect on Melissa’s social life. The other pupils laugh, tease, and avoid her. Leroy asks her again if she would like to go on a date after two weeks. Melissa readily agrees.
Leroy often passes what he would consider to be pretty women as he travels from class to class. One young man, Josh, is always passing paths with Leroy. Leroy enjoys bumping into Josh as they pass one another in the hall. This often causes Josh to fall into a closed locker or fall to the floor. Josh always drops all of his books and has to stop and pick them up alone while the other pupils laugh. Sometimes, Josh will take another hall to avoid Leroy. If Leroy is in a bad mood, he will look down other halls for Josh.
Leroy will often “accidentally” touch young women in inappropriate places. This makes many young women uncomfortable, but he always says it was accidental.
Leroy’s Discovery Nina one day tells her guidance counselor about this inappropriate “accidental” touching. She tells her counselor that this is not the first episode of the “accidental” touching. The counselor decides to investigate the claim.
Leroy’s parents are called and told about the incident. Leroy’s mother became agitated and began yelling and became extremely aggressive towards the counselor. The mother believes that because her son is so popular and charitable, he is not capable of what the accusations stated. The father is reached the same day with the same ending result.
Leroy’s guidance counselor talks with him about the difference between good and bad touching. Leroy is uninterested during the conversation paying little attention to the conversation. After four such meeting in two weeks, the issues were dropped.
Conclusion Leroy realized that his behavior wasn’t socially acceptable. He also learned that because of his social status, this behavior had no ramifications.
After Thought Every day in our schools and communities, people are teased, threatened, or tormented by bullies. Bullying is a problem that creates a climate of fear, that affects the whole family, and in some cases, the entire community. When we fail to recognize and stop bullying behavior as it occurs, we actually promote violence. We are saying to the bully, “You have the right to hurt people,” and to the victim, “You are not worth protecting.” Safe communities are everyone’s responsibility and everyone can help keep our families safe.
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Bully Solutions
