Oh, I understand perfectly, Eliza. I was the same type of kid you were, very small and thin and shy. I also tried to become "invisible" and only escaped, finally, by reaching the age where I could leave school behind and join the world of the adults....thank God!

Looking back on it all with hindsight, I realize that the only thing one can do to end childhood bullying is to stand up against it, but like you, I was not well equipped physically or psychologically to do that, so it simply didn't seem to be a viable option.

My father, in fact, kept telling me "Punch him in the nose.", but it was not advice I could possibly imagine acting on. It was the kind of thing that always worked for my father, because he was an aggressive, tall, strong, A-type personality, a man who wasn't afraid of anything (except that someone might laugh at him). He never had the slightest hesitation about getting tough with people, but he and I were about as opposite in nature as two people could possibly be. I'm a "thinker" (and a negotiator...I seek harmony and mutual agreement). He was a "doer" (man of action...seeks victory). Both qualities are worth having, the "thinker" and the "doer" but imagine what you could do with an equal measure of both! ;-)


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Good point, Jeri. Yeah, a lot of kids bully simply because they can. You see that with armed nations too. And governments. And bosses. And border officials. And some police, unfortunately. And even dogs and cats, as far as that goes...