I suppose that, as long as there have been people, there have been bullies.
I was bullied.
It was either in Grade 7 or Grade 8. There was one guy who knew what door I exited the school from and the path I took going home. It seemed like every day for months, we would end up in fist fights. I don’t ever remember being anything but on the losing end. I can tell you now that it did eventually end and this person and I became best of friends throughout high school. At the time, though, it seemed like it was never going to end. I tried to avoid the inevitable confrontation by doing things after school or taking a different route home.
When I became interested in Webquests in the classroom, I wrote one of my own.
Certainly, at the time of writing, I was approaching it from the perspective of physical bullying.
As we all know, bullying has taken on a much nastier approach. It really bothers me when people belittle electronic bullying. We need to talk about this and fight it until it ends.
It can cut to the core.
I remember very clearly sitting next to a very good friend of mine at a conference and she confided that she felt bullied by another who had electronically attacked something that she felt very passionate about. Is there no end?
This morning, I read this story. “A Bully Called This Mom’s Son Ugly. You Have To Read The Mom’s Reply. Priceless.”
This is one of those stories that need to be openly read and discussed. It gets so deep to the heart of the matter.
If you read one story today, this is it. More importantly, read the comments. We’ve got a long way to go.
doug --- off the record 
