The bus monitor is taking us all to school.
The upstate New York grandmother who was bullied by four teenage boys while working as a school bus monitor may be teaching an important lesson about grace. A video that showed the boys mocking 68-year-old Karen Klein went viral, unleashed a deluge of sympathy for her, including massive donations in her honor. The response to the video provoked angry threats and promises of violent retribution against the boys.
Ironically, Klein was emphatic in her calls for people to stop harassing her tormentors. "I feel kind of bad for them and their families because of what's going on," she said in an interview with the newspaper the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. "They're being harassed terribly and I don't like that. I don't want any harm to come to them."
Class, take note.
First, take note of the immature foolishness of what the boys said. The video is painful to watch. The boys, all middle school students, taunted, cursed, poked and verbally assaulted the woman for more than 10 minutes. They called her names, made fun of her weight, hurled obscenities at her and threatened to hurt her.
But also pay attention to the wave of angry responses. Clearly, people are fed up with bullying behavior. We can only imagine how these boys would have treated another child. The anger is understandable, but making death threats against children is never warranted.
As a veteran bus driver and monitor, Klein has seen it all, and perhaps that is why the lesson she is teaching us is so valuable.
The lesson is not one of easy forgiveness. In fact, Klein dismissed the quickly issued statements from some of the boys. "I think they can do better," she said. She may be teaching us how the lines separating the bullied and the bully can become blurred. The experience may let us understand the spiritual dimensions of a bullying-saturated culture.
Somehow, Klein found the temerity and maturity to rise above this "Lord of the Flies" mentality. Unjustly attacked, she found composure to extend grace to the boys who did not deserve her charity. I don't know if they will understand it, but she gave those boys a gift more valuable than the $650,000 raised in her honor.
Don't watch the video if you are offended by foul language and immature, irresponsible behavior. Don't watch it if seeing such abuse will fuel your anger — because it will make you mad. Don't watch it if the thought of children making fun of adults upsets you. But perhaps watch it as a parable of what it means to forgive.
Sin is so ugly. Hatred is so unappetizing. Retribution is so easy. And forgiveness is so hard. Our selfish, petty and immature actions damage each other. What might happen, if instead of clenching our fists, we shaped our lives according to the words of Jesus?
Forgive us our debts. Help us to forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil.
Last Saturday, Karen Klein's arms were open wide to hug the father of one of her 13-year-old tormenters, a man so upset by his son's action that he could not sleep until he showed up at her house to say, "I'm sorry." The boys will receive their punishment, and have written letters of apology. It is, at least, a step in the right direction.
Jesus grounds our experience of forgiveness in acts of honest, soul-seeking prayer. For Jesus, prayer is not only bringing to God our laundry list of things we need fixed in our lives and in our world. It is more than that. It is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God, a sign of maturing in faith. Faithful prayer frees us of the burden of a clenched fist, so that we might grow in love.
Eventually, prayer may even help us to grow up enough to love our neighbors — which might be the most important lesson we can learn from that fateful bus ride home.
The Rev. Christopher Keating serves as pastor of the Woodlawn Chapel Presbyterian Church in Wildwood. His Civil Religion blog is "MUSINGS AND MUTTERINGS: Reflections on life and faith from a Presbyterian (USA) pastor."