> When you were a kid, were you ever victimized either by a schoolyard bully or by a common street bully?
>
> Kid bullies usually look for another kid who is obviously younger or weaker than themselves.
>
> After they assure themselves that they, themselves, are in no danger from the potential victim, they proceed to begin their bullying.
>
> Once they get away with the bullying the first time, with no retaliation, they continue the bullying every time they get the opportunity to pick on the victim again.
>
> Eventually, after both the bully and the victim reach a certain age, the bullying usually stops, because there comes a time when such bullying is no longer considered a little problem that kids have to suffer through, and instead it becomes a crime. And so, normally, the bullying stops at that point.
>
> If you were ever the victim of a bully or bullies, when you were a kid, what is your reaction when you see the same bully or bullies now, when you are adults?
>
> Is there hatred? Resentment? Revenge?


I've been on both sides of the fence, here. Way back in the day, as in, say, K-4th grade or so, I was a bit of a bully. I didn't hit kids, but I bullied more verbally, than anything. Occasionally, I'd knock a kid down or something, but mostly, I'd just tease kids relentlessly. The weird part about it is that I really only bullied other bullies. I didn't pick on nice kids, because, well, they were nice. But it was the kids who were the jerks, the bullies, if you will, that I would lay into. This got me into some sticky situations, at times, as I was always a small kid who had no right picking on anybody, much less the Big Kids who were doing all the Real Bullying. I never got into a fight (well, I almost did, but that comes later), but I came very very close quite a few times. Luckily, I was a fast talker who could backpedal like no other, so little TOM was never getting scraped off the pavement at recess, as I should've been many a time.

During middle school, I got picked on a lot. Mostly about stupid middle school stuff, like what kind of shoes I wore, or what color my jeans were, but it was still bullying being done to me, except by now the bullies were aggressive (and big) enough that I couldn't (verbally) fight back without seriously worrying about getting pummeled. So I had to suck it up for a few years.

Now we get to high school. I've hit my growth spurt, and am now at least average height (although I'm still a twig.) Nonetheless, I managed to fall in with a crowd that didn't get picked on, so I was saved as far as that goes. Eventually, I started playing football, and well, that put an end to any bullying of me, since football players tended to do most of that, and football players did not pick on other football players. At least, not at my school. Now we get to the part where I almost got into a fight.

A kid who's actually now one of my favorite people from high school (we'll call him Enslerhay), had this habit of picking on this Really Short Kid (Illybay) in gym class. Now, Arleschay and I observed this for a while, and were getting rather sick of it, but there wasn't much we could do, because Enslerhay could probably take on both of us at the same time. Well, one gym class, I finally lost it and, from maybe 20 feet away, just charged at Enslerhay, who was not looking because he was too busy shoving around Illybay. I rammed into Enslerhay, who was momentarily stunned, and I figured "Oh, crap. You idiot. You better hope Mom's home to get you to the hospital." Enslerhay grabbed me by the collar and slammed me up against the bleachers, which were those kind that folded up against the wall. We stared each other down, and went about trying to reverse the positioning, waiting for him to throw the first punch (Stupid? Probably.) The gym teacher eventually saw us and yelled at us.

After that, Enslerhay stopped bullying Illybay. And he proceeded to become the closest thing to a friend I had in high school. WEIRD, huh?

So there's my life story, as far as bullying goes. To recap:

K-4, maybe 5 : I'm is a jerk, but only to other jerks. I get in lots of trouble.

6-8 : I get picked on a lot. Not fun.

9-12 : I am normal, and stick up for kids who are getting bullied.

The Other "The school psychlogist said I acted the way I did way back in the day because I was bored with the ease of school. I doubt that's te rationale for most 'bullies'." Matthew