Pushed to the Limit

As a Sunday School teacher, there was always one thing that bothered me above all else: bullying. Each year, without fail, there would be one or two kids who used their physique or intelligence or social status to push other kids around. What annoyed me most was that they (the bullies) would intentionally pick on the quiet, shy ones - the very kids that my heart go out to and I work harder to reach out to. The bullying is typically physical in nature, but can sometimes be emotional - WORDS - and just as, if not more, hurtful. Bullying bothers me immensely because it represents UNFAIRNESS in its highest form --- what gives one person the right to inflict pain on another and get away with it???

Ironically, over the weekend, I made the shocking realisation that I've been a victim of bullying without so much as realising it. How's that possible, you may ask. Well, it's always easier to diagnose a illness when you're not the one afflicted by it, isn't it? I think I was in a state of denial. I even made excuses for the bully! I kept reasoning, she's just not very tactful therefore I should not hold it against her. But there's a limit to everyone's patience, and there's a very clear line between being tactless and outrightly picking on someone. I knew she had crossed that line when I observed how she treated different people differently - she only ever tries her nonsense with selected persons i.e. the seemingly "weaker" ones.

Well, enough is enough. I've had it with her nonsense. It's time to stand up for myself (if no one else will).