Bully you, bully me

You want to know what a bully looks like?

A bully looks like the kid with a mean smirk on his face …  the angry young boy who screams and hits to get his way.  

A bully looks like the little girl with a chip on her shoulder and an attitude to match.

A bully looks like the young man with a jovial grin but he has a dark side…  he blackmails and forces people to do his bidding. No one says anything because they want to fly under the radar.

A bully looks like the perky young woman that wears the latest fashions.  Teachers love her, but the quiet girls, they avoid her.  

We all can see this.  We all click like on the Facebook photos and stories that denounce these people, but we neglect what a bully looks like….  Yes, we do.

I challenge us all to take a look, am I a bully?

Do I make fun of people based on how they look?  Based on where they work?  Based on where they live?  Do YOU look down on people based on looks, occupation, or where they live?

I have encountered mean grownups many times.  I have a hearing and resulting speech problem, and very mild dyslexia (though never diagnosed) and sometimes to this day I have speech issues that creep in; despite years of speech therapy as a child.  Instead of being polite some people will scoff and make jabs about my speech, or rather the pronunciation of something I say.  My child, their child, or some child often times is present.  They absorb everything, the good and the bad.

Just because you laugh when you say something mean, does not make it right or nice.  It makes me feel lower than dirt, it makes my daughter look at me with the eyes of the adult making fun of me at my expense, and it sets a bad example for the other children around us.  They see you making fun of another adult.  Your actions are what teach them much more than your words.  

You are the bully.  

You are what a bully looks like.  

It’s that face staring back at you in the mirror. 

 One key to combating bullying is to set a good example of how we should and should not treat people.  It’s all about treating each other with compassion.  You know what another word for compassion is?  KINDNESS.  

So let’s do that.  Let’s treat each other with kindness.