Bullying, unfortunately, is present everywhere. It's present in classrooms, on playgrounds, it's present in America, in Europe, in Asia. It's not just constrained among kids, they just bully people because they don't know any better. Adults know better but they still bully other people.
Definition:
use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants.
It's the use of superiority to bully other people. Different levels of power exist anywhere, not just at school. Look at our presidency and major leaders in Hollywood, just as an example. Employers have power over employees, police officers have power over regular citizens (false arrests), Hollywood producers using their power to coerce female actresses into doing things they don't want to do. it exists at every level of society. It's one of the easiest things to do when one gets power: abuse it by exerting that power on others, whether it's because you were the victim of the same kind of power abuse before, you secretly enjoy it, whatever the cause. Adults should know better; kids bully because they are not conscious of doing it, and are insecure themselves, and a variety of other developmental issues, etc., but kids bullying other kids is one of the most underrated issues never to hit the national media, it doesn't appear in headlines, it doesn't show up in trendy videos or campaign speeches because kids don't vote and don't have their voice heard as much as adults, which makes it that much scarier.
Recently Burger King (of all companies, Burger King) released an ad in which a 10-year-old (or so) is bullied by his friends at a Burger King, and adult customers in the store are monitored to see if they do anything about the bullying. Unfortunately, many don't. If I saw bullying at a restaurant, I'm not sure I would intervene neither. Laws in this country disincentive people from stepping into other people's business, there's been situations where good people try to help but end up doing more harm than good, or like parents step in and wonder why you're trying to effect their child. Unfortunately it's a lot up to kids, and there's a ton of bullying in schools that adults don't know about. When kids are sent to school, whether it be elementary, middle, or high school, they're going into a prison-like environment where the kids are the inmates, and there's only a certain amount of guards (teachers) to make sure bullying doesn't happen, and even if the teachers see it they don't necessarily handle it correctly. Or the kids just disregard the teachers. As a bullied kid at school, it's one of the scariest things to be the one getting picked on. The bullies always seem to be more popular and well liked by others (where is where they get that source of power, knowing that they have more social standing than others so it's a power trip. And finally, finally, when you've been bullied your whole life and finally get some power over someone, you want to use that power too......it's so tempting, and it takes every ounce of willpower and a mature person who knows better to not turn into the monster yourself. It's a vicious cycle, bullying is, and the only way to break it is to try to reverse the trend by not bullying others, and hopefully that kindness is passed in reverse towards the initiators of bullying.
As a victim of bullying, I wish and hope to be able to address the swept-under-the-rug issue of bullying in schools, whether it's as a teacher in the future, or as a volunteer, or someone with influence over the educational system, or even as a parent hoping to prevent my own child from being bullied.......adults tend to forget about bullying when we've outgrown it (even though there are forms of bullying in adult life too), but it affects everyone and must be addressed adequately.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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