's motd Monday Oct 11, 2010 - Bullies

[Guest guest]

BULLY!

Monday, 11 October 2010

What is a bully? Well, the

question really should be...WHO is a

bully? A bully is a person who makes you feel bad

about yourself mentally and/or physically. Bullies

pick on those people they see as..."different". (From

themselves, anyway.)

Bullies pick on short people, fat

people, people with buck teeth, people with freckles,

people who wear glasses...just on anyone they perceive

as weak or different from them. (How sad.) The bully

looks down on those people. (The nerve!)

And bullies can say some pretty terrible things to the

people who truly don't deserve to be treated this way.

Sometimes bullies even get physical with the people

they're picking on. They may punch that person or

even push them to the ground. (We've all seen this

kind of treatment when we were kids or may have even

been the victim of it.) And when they do offend you,

physically or mentally, those bullies get a feeling of

"power" from it.

Yes, I was bullied in school. And of course, being

bullied was never a pleasant experience for me. After

being bullied for so long, there were times I even

began to believe the horrible things they

were saying about me. But, thank goodness, at an

early age I began to understand the reason people

became bullies.

Often, people who bully others were, at some point in

their lives, bullied themselves. They were bullied by

other kids or maybe even by members of their own

families. And because they were, they carry on the

"family tradition" by growing up to bully other

people.

Now you've got to understand

something, when bullies say mean things to others,

they're really saying those mean things to themselves.

You've got to figure they may have their own self-esteem

issues. When a bully throws a punch or pushes someone

down, they may be acting out the way they themselves

were treated at some time in their lives. (Of course,

this does not excuse their actions.)

And now, to make matters worse, here in the 21st

century, bullying has gone hi-tech on us, having

entered the world of Cyberspace. I'm constantly

seeing stories on the news about kids being bullied

and talked about badly by others over the Internet,

via Facebook or Twitter. Sometimes their actions have

led to very dire consequences. (It just breaks my

heart!) So how should today's kids deal with bullies?

Well, the one thing they should

never do is try to bully that bully back. Chances

are, it will only make things worse. Your child

should take a deep breath, count to ten and walk away

from the offending bully. If the bullying continues,

your child should tell an authority figure, beginning

with you and you may even have to talk to

someone at your child's school about the offenses.

Hey, this world doesn't need bullies. It needs

compassionate and kind people who treat each other

with...respect.

Now, truth is, not only do children get bullied by

other children. But there're also adult bullies

who spend their time bullying other adults. And if

you have someone in your life bullying you, you need

to tell them, right at their moment of bullying, that

you don't appreciate what they said and to never ever

speak to you that way again. Be strong and

demonstrate the self-respect you have for

yourself. It's important!

So there. Bullies beware!

Love,