Bullying Hits Georgia: Georgia Needs to Hit Back!
Op-Ed
Globalization is, above all, reflected in tongue. For instance, the word ‘bullying’ has recently taken root in the Georgian language too. The word is not translatable into Georgian by one equivalent word, hence the neologism. It feels good to recognize that we did not have this word in our national lexicon before and that it has only just entered our language and life, very aggressively I might add, to become a household term. As oft happens, most users do not even know where the word comes from, but nonetheless use it successfully in public and media discussions. Whatever the linguistic or social effect, bullying is a form of violence.
Believe it or not, this is exactly what is happening among our youth, mostly teenagers, especially on school grounds. Kids have become brazenly aggressive, and they habitually want to abuse and dominate each other, using for this any grownup technique including threats, force and coercion, applying to this behavioral pattern repeatedly.
Bullying in Georgia is becoming a national tragedy. Based on our temperament, bullying between the kids tends to grow into a vicious conflict, often climaxing in a lethal finale, sometimes even multiple deaths. I understand that there is nothing new about violence in general. We humans have been trying to defeat violence for the last 5000 years but it is still here as if we have not gone through any change or development through the bygone millennia. We are as thirsty for blood as we have ever been. As a consequence, our youth is growing and maturing in such a spirit and style. The violent environment seems to be more powerful at school, which gives a propitious ground to frequent bickering between boys and girls. The recent tragedy of the Saralidze family which played out right in the heart of downtown Tbilisi in broad daylight would probably suffice as an example of the persisting tendency of violence between our kids. It all started with regular bullying, leaving two wonderful young men dead and others wounded or bruised. The case became a real cause célèbre with the entire nation watching the roll-out in the last half a year on television: massive manifestations in the street and finally culminating in a special parliamentary commission to establish the truth. In a word, the nation got involved in something that depletes our energy and kills time, time which is meant for productive work to create progress. And it all started with a simple case of bullying between cocky boys looking for trouble.
A huge question mark has thus appeared over our heads: what are we going to do about it? Sit and watch how pointless bullying takes the lives of our children? Well, no place in the world is free from violent human attitudes, but we need to take care of ourselves first of all. Why can’t we consider seriously the problem of involvement of our youth in better things than school-level bullying? What about more sports in schools, more cultural measures, more coaches, more shrinks, more connectivity between parents and faculty, more education and proximity between kids and their elders? When youthful romanticism heads in the wrong direction, like bullying, we the grownups of society should probably start focusing on ideas and projects that take our children to a world where violence is a bad thing and is substituted by things that are better.
Take the example of last Sunday, when the Turtle Lake territory was turned into a sports ground, carrying the name of the Olympic Forum. I have not seen such an invigorating and joyous event in this town in a long time. The Georgian National Olympic Committee gave a wonderful gift to our young men and women to help them work on their desire for a healthy life, one without bullying. That day, thousands of youth, their parents and grandparents, their teachers and coaches, just all of them had a broad and happy smile on their beautiful faces and knew for sure that not even one bully was around at that moment of universal bliss.
By Nugzar B. Ruhadze