At some point in your life, you have probably come across someone, possibly yourself, who has been bullied. You may have watched someone get bullied, and you may or may not have done anything about it. You may be one of those people who bullied someone else. You may have been all of the above. Bullying is all around us, whether you recognize it or not. Bullying does not discriminate by age.
When you are bullied, you feel alone. Usually, you think of bullying as being physical. It’s awfully lonely on the inside that locker. People can say mean things. Words aren’t supposed to hurt right?That small comment won’t cut too deep. But when you cut someone into 1000 pieces, it’s hard to even begin to put that person back together again.
Did you know that the most common form of bullying is exclusion? Have you ever felt unwelcome at the lunch table at work? They didn’t say anything mean, and it didn’t sound mean. You know what, maybe they never said anything to you at all. Whatever the case, you probably didn’t eat lunch with them again and now go to a spot where you can’t be seen to eat your lunch. What if you were at that lunch table at work? Introducing yourself isn’t going to solve everything, but it is the perfect start.
Standing up to a bully is not easy. Not many people like confrontations. There are other ways to stand up to bullies. The pink shirt movement started after a boy was bullied for wearing a pink shirt at school. Two other students from his school went out and bought 50 pink shirts and had others students wear them. Now I don’t expect you to go out and buy 50 shirts every time you see someone get bullied, but maybe a good ol’ 7 second hips-in hug will help. Not the right place for that? Well a high five with an optional “fuck yeah” will help. Can’t say that in your meeting? Well, I can guarantee eye contact and a smile will help.
And this isn’t only for the person being bullied. This is also for the people who were around to witness it. It’s also for the bully because I’ll bet they could use some help to find the good in them too. It might be hard to find, but it’s somewhere in there. People are inherently good. Help them find it. Have we gotten to know that person who was bullied? If we see someone being bullied and don’t do anything about it, does that mean we are bad people? If we always call someone a bully, are we giving them the opportunity to change?
Whether you have been bullied, bullied someone before, or saw someone be bullied and need some good in your life, there will always be a positive vibe and a hips-in hug for you at November Project.
Find the good.
N9
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