When one hears the term "bully", one may begin to think of television characters like "Butch" from The Little Rascals, "Mad Dog" or "Sweet Daddy" from Good Times, or Mafia gangsters like "Scarface". The aforementioned characters are very indicative of the different kinds of bullies that are in our society. As often stated, art imitates life. Most people, as they watched these characters on television, were able to identify with them whether directly or indirectly. There may have been characters that reminded viewers of themselves or that reminded them of some other person whose path they may have crossed in their life time. It is probably safe to assume that everyone has bullied some other person or has been bullies by another person. There are many reasons that people become bullies or intimidators of others. So many people in this society are not good communicators or do not possess the adequate compassion or concern for the understanding of other people. This lack of compassion and misunderstanding translates into various types of bullying - verbal, emotional and physical.
[...] When family members are in business together, there is always a time when the boss is more lenient with his brother-in-law who is also his store manager because he is the boss's wife's baby brother. This leniency may actually be detrimental to the productivity of the business. Additionally, the brother-in-law may conveniently remind the boss that his wife (the brother-in-law's big sister) would not be happy to hear that her baby brother is being treated unfairly on the job. This is a simple example of how family members are bullied by other family members when money is in the equation. [...]
[...] Most times, there is a perceived distinction in the power or size of the parties of a bully-victim relationship. Bullies verbally abuse weaker persons or gradually weaken others by way of the harsh words used towards them. Verbal bullying is not the same as teasing because bullying involves repetitive attacks on the same person. Words can truly be piercing to the confidence of a person. When I was in elementary school, students called each other four-eyes, bean pole, HUMPTY-DUMPTY, brace-face and jelly belly. [...]
[...] This type of bullying can occur very early in a child's life. There are times when babies fight each other for toys as young one and two years old. Daycare givers are continually noting to parents that their baby bullies the other babies in the daycare center. So these tendencies and actions seem to be almost naturally instinctive because no one had to teach the bully baby how to bully other babies. Therefore, as children get older, some of them misapply or misdirect their feelings of low self esteem, despair and resentment in a way of bullying others in the neighbourhood or at school. [...]
[...] Bullies come in a variety of fashions - young, old, big and small. In the same manner, there are many reasons that individuals bully others. A primary reason is that the bully type treatment of others is all they have ever known in their personal family lives(Johnston, 1996). So they actually are deficient in their communication skills. They do not know how to treat other persons with compassion and concern. In most cases, bullies have been mistreated or abused by their own siblings or loved ones; therefore, they treat others the same way so they won't feel like they are being bullied. [...]
[...] Victims of bullying, in some cases, get overwhelmed by the negativity of it all and in the long run may become an abusive person in their adulthood as a result of lifelong retaliation against bullies. In this case, the bully monster will have successfully perpetuated itself. On the other hand, many persons who suffered the pains of bully victimization in their younger years become stronger persons as a result, it is said even in the Holy Bible in the book of Romans that suffering produces perseverance, character and hope. [...]
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