Loading ...In the first grade , over the Christmas break , my parents transferred me to a school on the other side of town , because my father was building a home there which was not ready for occupancy , but would be within a month or two . For me , it entailed taking a city bus to the center of town , then transferring to a second bus which had a stop close to the school . I was a timid kid and the change of routine and loss of neighborhood friends and classmates did not help . Two boys in my new class ganged up to physically bully me during recess and at lunch time in another class room used by those who brought a lunch pail instead of returning home for lunch . After a couple of weeks of their physical abuse , I had just finished my lunch and was headed down a central hallway to the steps at right angles to the hallway , when I heard the pounding of footsteps running behind me . I instinctively ducked , just as one of the bullies (who had also brought a lunch that day) launched to grab me around the neck from behind . Timing and location were perfect . I ducked , he flew , and momentum took him right over me , turned upside down , and slammed his back hard against one of those old cast iron, wall mounted radiators which heated that part of the hallway and stairwell . He came up bawling and blaming me for ‘attacking’ him . Fortunately , the principal was in her office at the opposite end of the hall and witnessed the whole thing . She told him that he deserved what he had received , and left it at that .
When the other bully returned from lunch and his buddy was still nursing his pain , they decided further bullying was not a good idea .
Bullies are basically cowards . We have witnessed many in Washington D.C. who use bully tactics , on both sides of the aisle . We also see bullies heading up other nations around the world . Sometimes action makes bullies think twice , but it can also become a two way street, inviting further aggression . In my case it did not – it ended the aggression .