Sad day in our county

[S.A. Boggs]

Yesterday in two different school systems a boy and a girl took their life, I am distraught. Yes, over bullying!!!
Sam

[Vern Humphrey]

This is, you realize, a liberal-created phenominon. You were bullied, I was bullied, we were all bullied.

But in my day, bullying ended up in the boxing ring. Being bullied is how you learn to stand up for yourself. But nowadays, kids are taught not to duke it out, but to weep and moan.

[S.A. Boggs]

This is, you realize, a liberal-created phenominon. You were bullied, I was bullied, we were all bullied.

But in my day, bullying ended up in the boxing ring. Being bullied is how you learn to stand up for yourself. But nowadays, kids are taught not to duke it out, but to weep and moan.

I have to agree to a point, parents sometimes do not teach their children what to do. I asked our daughter if she was ever bullied @school, she answered yes she was once. I asked her how she handled it, "I told them I would clean their clock like you taught me to!" was her reply. In grade school we were called to her school twice for her defending herself. The school said that they would not tolerate fighting, I said I would not tolerate my daughter being pushed around either by any punks. Amazing what Ranger skills out son taught his sister...by the way my daughter's choice of a PDW is one of my 1911's. There has always been bullies, more then likely we have all faced our demons on the playground. Some cannot fight back and unfortunately implode in this time of ours. Personally I would like to see bullies expelled to a setting that could teach, if possible, what they are doing to society.
Sam

[JB White]

Vern, back in the day we called it being picked on. A "bully" almost always threw a punch. I got picked on being the smallest and the youngest. I was also a 12 year old freshman in an all-male highschool. A football powerhouse and I was only 4' 10". Picked on? Hell yeah! Until they discovered this kid from an inner city corner had something to say. Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast, and ignore anything you couldn't block. Just keep on hitting.
They may have technically won the fight with someone half their size but they awoke the next morning sore and torn up. Crap stopped quick. Nobody wanted to go into the ring with me as they'd look like a danged fool out there just like they looked in the corridor.

I grew up fast and was just over 6'. Nobody "picked on" me anymore and some called me the patron saint of freshies. I didn't realize I defended the new little shrimps coming into the school until it was pointed out. No patronizing professionals, no sissy 'zero tolerance' rules, and no suicide problems on a grand scale.

[bruce]

The weapons of bullies have changed. It's that simple. Fist and feet are passe. Now ... bullies use more sophisticated means ... i.e., the internet. They use it to make life a 24/7 hell for which ever child they decided to victimize. All this stupid talk about how we all "handled" it years ago is irrelevant. Further, bullying in the "old days" stopped once you got off campus or off the bus. You weren't getting twits tweeting about you at all times of the day, etc. As well, it's not just one individual bully that does this stuff. It'll be a gang of them. No one has feet or fist to beat a gang attack like that. This past month there were two young boys who committed suicide in my small country. One was 12 years old. The other one was 13 years old. I didn't know the first little boy. But the second boy was one of my church members ... handsome, outstanding student, liked physics. Hung himself in the woods. Father found him. Stupid tragedy. Some funerals are harder than others. I've never been able to get through the funeral of a little baby or a child without it getting to me. That one the other day took the wind out of a lot of people's sails. And, no one is blamed b/c of course it was not anyone's fault ... certainly not the bullies who thought it was fun to pick on him. Like it or not, the days of fixing much of anything ... even a stuck candy machine ... with your fist or foot is over. The folks now doing the bullying learn from their parents how to and what to do to get what they want. They use the internet like a weapon ... no different than other bullies who in the old days used their fist or feet. There are laws on the books to deal with terrorists. Guess they'll have to get some laws on the books to deal with bullies, because feet and fists aren't getting it done. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

[Vern Humphrey]

So far as I know, no one is trying fists and feet these days. Kids are taught NOT to fight back, and punished if they do. And that may be the problem.

As far as bullying on the internet goes. what ever happened to "Ignore the clod and he'll go away?"

[bruce]

So far as I know, no one is trying fists and feet these days. Kids are taught NOT to fight back, and punished if they do. And that may be the problem.

As far as bullying on the internet goes. what ever happened to "Ignore the clod and he'll go away?"

Understand your POV. But, reality is that fist and feet worked when the physically strongest could beat down the weakest. Now, those with the mental ability use that ability on the internet to inflict damage on those who are less capable of fighting with ideas, words, etc. Kids do not now form a circle around two kids fighting on the playground. Kids now read and reread and talk about and tweet the latest thing they've seen that one child or group of children have said about another one.

Kids are taught not to get involved in fist fights, etc. for one very good reason. Kids get hurt. It's that simple. Broken teeth, noses, etc., the parents don't like it. All the yak yak about how we settled things years ago is pointless. Years ago, few if any of us faced a knife or gun. Few of us even knew what a drive by shooting was. I've buried 15 year old boys in my youth group who got shot while they were shooting basketball on the driveway of their home. You wouldn't believe what a boxcutter can do to a boy's face ... in just a few seconds. There was never anything good about fighting years ago. We just remember it through the convenience of 40 or more years of faded memories. Those on the receiving end of bullying 40 or more years ago likely would remember things differently. Nowadays kids act toward each other in the way they see their parents and other adults act. It's like that Jimmy Dean song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW0oqLcdPZ0 ). Sincerely. bruce.

[dogtag]

When I was a kid you punched your tormentor on the nose.
Now, bullying is done long range via Smart Phones.
Punching a Smart Phone doesn't help.

[togor]

As DT implies, back in theday you had to be at the right place at the right time to inflict torment. William Manchester wrote in his Pacific War memoir how the evasion skills learned in his youth helped him survive his time in Okinawa.

Online today it's always the right place and time for bullies.

[blackhawknj]

"Sticks and stones..." yes, I know, somewhat corny, perhaps even trite, but back in the day. Back in the day, if a bully got whupped by one of his victims, his reputation was mud, and he usually slunk away. And bullies always had to worry about their victims families and friends. The school administration. The Law.

[Vern Humphrey]

Understand your POV. But, reality is that fist and feet worked when the physically strongest could beat down the weakest. .

Fists and feet worked regardless -- the bullies found it was too much trouble to fight every kid they picked on.

[S.A. Boggs]

The little girl was 12 and in the 7th grade, the boy was in foster care and age 16. The boy was mistreated by his parents [beaten], so needless!
Sam

[milboltnut]

Got messed with.. got into a couple of fights, eight grade, and junior year and the kids who could take me had respect for me.

[Vern Humphrey]

When I was a kid you punched your tormentor on the nose.
Now, bullying is done long range via Smart Phones.
Punching a Smart Phone doesn't help.

But ignoring it does. :-)

[Vern Humphrey]

There is a favorite cowboy song of mine, about two cowboys out on a drunken spree.

And as they were ridin' back to camp, carryin' a pretty good load
Who should they meet but the Devil himself, prancin' down the road.
And he said, "You honry cowboy skunks, you better hunt your holes
'Cause I've come up from Hell's rim rock to gather in your souls."

Says Sandy Bob, "Ol' Devil, we boys IS kinda tight.
"But you ain't gatherin' no cowboy souls without SOME kind of a fight"
So he punched a hole in his rope and swang it straight and true.
And lapped it around the Devil's horns, and taken his dallies, too.

And Buster Jig, who was a riata man, with his gut-line coiled up neat
Shook her out and built him a loop and lassoed the Devil's hind feet.
They took him down and stretched him out, and while the irons was gettin' hot
They swallow-tail forked his ears, then they branded him up a lot.