Bullies Beware

Posted: January 22, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Miss Cheryl, Tales, Tips | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

bully4

Bullying is a social issue that unfortunately plagues almost everyone at one time or another. It’s a crime on a personal level that often goes unprosecuted because it operates in a grey area. An argument may be made on both sides: one person’s “bullying” may be another person’s “joke” or cliquish behavior. I, myself, got caught up in the mean girl mentality –both as victim and perpetrator– around middle school: excluding people, speculating, just needlessly not nice things. Though my intent was never to hurt anyone, it shames me now to have ever been involved in such trivial and ultimately harsh behaviors. At the time, as perpetrator I truly didn’t think anyone cared enough about my opinion to take me seriously, let alone get their feelings hurt. (I wasn’t putting much thought or energy into the mean girl behavior, how could I possibly hurt someone?) Once I realized my behavior was truly hurtful, after being a victim of it myself, and that bullying was the case, I set about apologizing, and nipping ostracizing and victimizing in the bullying bud, as did my pals. What goes around comes around was definitely the case with me, as I had a yearlong run-in with a bully of epic proportions when I went to high school. My younger thoughtlessness paled in comparison to this girl’s malicious intent. But everything is relative, and what I participated in and instigated during my younger years was no less hurtful to the recipient. Read the rest of this entry »