The Bully Pulpit

Eveyone's favorite topic of the moment is school bullying. I was the victim of school bullying growing up so I know all about it first hand. Did I fight back? No. Did I take it? Yes. Did I ever do anything about it? Well, sort of. I may have told my brother Jerome about it and at Wednesday nigh church school, he yelled at some of my tormentors.  It stopped it that night but that's about it. In many ways, my brother made it worse. So what do you do?

Here's the thing. I grew up in a small town. You learn to get along. You have too. The bully in the second grade who sits two desks over, will still be sitting there two desks over in the 12th grade. You don't have to like them, but you learn to get along.

If I would have beat the crap out of all my tormentors, what would that accomplish? It wouldn't have made my life easier. Yes, it would be good to stand up for myself, but I didn't need more people mad at me, I didn't need my parents to get involved, I didn't need the school district to get involved. I didn't need the attention or the "help" because, in my view, it was easier to tolerate than cause more problems.

I think that might be part of the problem we have in society these days. The street gang mentality has taken over, where the worst thing to happen to you is to be "disrespected".  I remember a friend from the Star Tribune telling her little girl on the phone not to take any crap from other kids. Well...how does that usually end up?  In a fight.  I choose not to fight. But don't confuse that with cowardice. I have never been a coward and believe me, when the time comes, I do fight and will fight.