The theme of an endless parade of kid and teen shows is don’t bully. There is a simple storyline. Person A stands out in some way. Along come The Bully and pushes around Person A. There is conversation in The Group watching all this. When The Bully strikes again this time The Group stands up to The Bully and he backs down scared and runs away. The Group and Person A become friends and all is right in the world.
Sounds so sweet and loving. Then to add to this wonderful theme you hear stories on the media how a class or school stood with a formerly bullied child/teen/person to show they aren’t like that. Entire schools professing they aren’t bullies.
Then who are the bullies?
If everyone is a victim of a bully but not the bully? Then we should have no bullies. Sadly we know that isn’t true. The truth is that most everyone at sometime in our life has in some way bullied or condoned it through apathy, fear, or peer pressure.
When I was in elementary school my best friend had a rather large over bite. I didn’t care she was my friend and we did everything together. The kids at school did care. Kids would make fun of her teeth. Then moved on to making fun of her clothing, what she said in class, and how she didn’t r
un quite ‘right’. Picking on her became a game many played.
One day the biggest boy in our class was saying nasty things about her. I heard and stood between them. The bully and I yelled things at each other. Finally he reached out and pushed me down onto the muddy ground. I was furious now. I got back up and kept yelling at him. Again he pushed me down. I got back up. We did this so often that my friend began telling me to let it go and just sit down.
The crowd was laughing and loving every minute of it. The bully thought it was funny at first but when I came back up for the 10-ish time he was looking at me like I was crazy. It became a standoff who would back down first. We even stopped yelling at each other. I would stand up, he would push me down. Finally the cycle was broken by the teacher coming over and ordering me to go to the office and call my mom to go home and get cleaned up.
I have no idea what broke free that day but I was not going to back down. I didn’t care if I got muddy. Or in trouble from the teacher that was quietly watching it all from her seat. I was mad and tired of my friend being lied about. It was the right thing to do.
My friend is and was a wonderful person that has gone on to live a wonderful life. I am proud to call her my friend. That day and today.
If you face bullying don’t wait for the crowd. You are not in control of other people’s actions and despite was tv tells you the crowd is most likely not going to come to the bullied person’s aid. However you are in control of YOUR actions. Stand up for what is right.
Stand up for what is right even if you are standing alone [unknown]
