[mercedesjin]

I realize that this is a pretty broad topic, but I have some thoughts on it, so please bear with me.

Lately, I've been an assistant teacher in a high school in the USVI where I've seen a lot of bullying. I think it's something that we're all pretty familiar with. Whether we were/are bullies or were/are bullied, it's something we've all encountered. Even here on this forum, I've seen what people can get like when they decide that someone has a flaw, and so - as a group - they attack that person, if only to feel stronger. (Psychologically, if a group of people outcast one person, the group will feel stronger as a whole.) There are a few kids in the class I teach who go out of their way to bully everyone around them.

Seeing these kids bully others reminds me of my own time in junior high school. I was a huge bully myself. For a few years, I went out of my way to attack anyone. Eventually, I realized it came out of insecurities, because during elementary school, I was the school's main victim for bullying. I was one of the only lower class black girls in the school, so that made me different from others. By the time I reached college, I realized that as long as I'm secure with myself, I won't care what others think about me - and that, if anyone has issues with me, that most likely stems from their own insecurities. I've tried explaining this to the bullies in the class I now teach, but I'm not sure if I'm really reaching them.

I'd like to know people's thoughts on the broad issue of bullying, but if you have any advice, that would be great too. =)