Bullying is for sissies~

Bullying... what an interesting topic - who has not been a victim of bullying either as a child, teenager or adult in todays corporate world? But how do we deal with bullies? How dow we stop bullying? How can we prevent bullying? Hpw can we protect our children and ourselves from being bullied? I know how because~ Once upon a time there was a young man who was bullied by older kids. He would go to school and on the playground the oder boys would push him around and take the basketball from him and dare him to do anything about it. He didn't. As the boy grew he found himself being bullied by may other boys. One day as he was roller skating at the local rink he met a girl named Debby. As he skated around a boy skated up to him and asked, do you know Debby? His thoughts raced ahead of his tongue and he thought, yes I just met her but all he managed to utter was "Yes!..." when the other boy hit him and knocked him down. Confused he got up and the boy asked again, do you know Debby? He was going to explain how he just met her but the words that fell out of his now bleeding and cut mouth was “yes…” before the older boy hit him again. Ready this time, he didn’t fall down but instead simply looked incredulously at the older boy as the older boy asked once again, do you know Debby? This time his mind was working under a now corrected assumption of results and he responded, “No.” the boy smiled and skated away. As he was picked up from the skating rink by his father he was asked, ‘what does the other boy look like?’ and all he was able to say was, ‘I didn’t even hit back.’ His father was disappointed and said to him, ‘next time you hit back!’ and he mumbled, ‘ok.’ The next week at school he was in the basement level of his high school and using the bathroom when another boy walked up to him, stood looking at him asked ‘Do you know Debby?’ Knowing this whole scenario his mind played it all out and he said “No!” The older bully had come looking for a target to pick on and the answer did not matter so he screamed ‘Liar!’ and punched the boy in the face regardless of his answer, knocking his head into the concrete wall and sending him spinning onto the floor. When the boy got home with a new black and blue cheek and swollen ear his dad asked, ‘what does the other boy look like?’ and the boy said, ‘I managed to pee on his shoe.’ His dad laughed and then said, ‘We are going to work on your self defense skills’. The next week his dad said ‘well you know how it feels to get hit, you know how bad you feel afterwards and especially how bad you feel when you know you might be a target for the next bully who comes along. Are you tired of being bullied?’ and the boy said rather sheepishly, ‘yes.’ And his dad began his lessons on how to take care of himself and his dad explained, ‘Most bullies will keep bullying you until you give them a reason to stop.’ A couple weeks later the original bully saw him at the high school football game, the boy saw him coming and tried to avoid him but there is no stopping a bully. The older boy walked up and said, ‘So, do still know Debby?’ Without missing a beat, without hesitating, learning all that his dad had taught him the boy looked up and at the older boys smile of knowing, and hit him as hard as he could right in his nose. The older boy was used to hitting but not being hit and he fell hard backward with blood running from his nose and the young boy turned and walked away. When he went home that night, he went to his dad and said while holding up his slightly bruised hand and said, “Dad, you should see the other guy.” After a brief conversation he went to bed and to his amazement between his self confidence and his knowledge of bullies he was never bullied again. But that is not the whole story … As the boy grew into a man he also had a child of his own. One day his boy came to him to talk about being pushed around and bullied. He told him how he was bullied as he tried to stand up to another boy, told of how he was bullied on the playground and how when he went to the teacher the teacher made light of the behavior and didn’t do anything. Dad now looked at his son and said, here is what you do, when that boy bullies you, you say one time, don’t do this any more or you will be sorry, then he taught his son how to punch just as his dad had done for him. He explained how when he punched the bully that he would get into trouble at the school office and how he, the Dad, would have to pretend to be upset with him for fighting but would be inwardly proud of him for standing up to the bully. Right on schedule the next day he received a phone call from the school that his son was fighting at school and that he would be expelled for three days and that he needed to be picked up from school. Dad did exactly as he said, went to the school, was appropriately upset with his son for fighting and when they left his son told him the story of how he punched the bully and knocked him down and how it felt. They went for ice cream and laughed together. The boy was never bullied again because he now understood bullies are truly sissies who only pick on people who won’t or can’t stick up for themselves. And therein lays the appropriate response to all bullies. They are all insecure fearful people who are afraid and need to dominate another in order to feel good about themselves. They will always pick on weaker people until the weak understand that they are never, were never and don’t have to be weak again. It also shows how when we teach our children to be empowered and to stand up for themselves they not only stand up for themselves but also become people who can and will help others with the power they have discovered within themselves. Bullying is for sissies. And if we will teach our children and our people how to stand up for themselves, how to be self empowered and how to stand up to all bullies that our lives and the lives of people we know will only get better. and I believe that my teaching people to be self empowered is one of the greatest tools I can offer to anyones life. I am Steve Sapato and I teach self empowerment.