Bullies

Bullying is a subject that is on a lot of people’s minds these days. It seems there is an awareness of the dangers inherent in what used to be seen as a fairly innocuous activity. The introduction of social media has given bullies a bigger stick, but also made the rest of us more aware of how damaging they can be.

This subject has recently garnered the attention of the White House, and spawned a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/StopBullying.Gov?sk=wall). It is a subject that has become part of our national conversation, and that can only be a good thing for the victims of bullies.

When my son was going to school, I constantly worried about him getting harassed by his classmates. Though we didn’t know it at the time, he has Aspberger’s syndrome, and was always just a little different than most of the other kids. Being on the small side made him a natural target for those aggressive schoolyard prowlers who seek out kids like my son to demonstrate how tough they are.

My son got lucky, or handled himself well. There were not nearly as many incidents as I feared there would be, but there were enough. And each time he came home with a report of being made fun of, or threatened, or otherwise made to feel scared, I wanted to step in and advise his tormenters that it was not a good idea to mess with my kid. I tried to be a Mr. Rogers kind of dad, but when it came to bullies, I got all Tony Soprano very quickly. Not that I ever acted on the inclination, but I wanted to.

Tell us your stories of dealing with bullies. If you like, send them to jim.caroompas@patch.com and we’ll post them anonymously.