Day 300: Bullying

Were you ever bullied as a child?  Tell a story of a time you were bullied, or a time you observed someone being bullied.

I believe all children are bullied a time or two.  Of course, the bullying can take on many forms that help people justify their actions.  Teasing can be a form of bullying.  Excluding can be bullying.  Anything to make someone feel less then is a form of bullying when done intentionally.  Now, I would love to say that all of it should be dealt with, but the fact of the matter remains, people are mean.  And the sly people will do the bullying by nefarious means to keep from getting caught.  They twist things around to look like someone else's fault even the victim.  The best thing to do is be so strong the bully has no power.  Unfortunately, not all people are that strong.  Unfortunately, my daughter hasn’t been that strong.  She is easily hurt and sensitive.  Which is a whole other can of worms in that some people are overly sensitive and think they are being bullied when they really aren't.  Because of this, the aspect of being bullied is very vague, hard to pinpoint.

One time a boy bullied my friend in sixth grade.  I can't for the life of me remember what he did.  At this point, boys had teased me about being the first to wear a bra.  I was tired of the mean way people were treating each other.  I took action.  I beat him up on the playground.  He never bullied her again.  The kids told my teacher what I did.  "I didn't see it," Mr. Miller replied.  I never got in trouble.