BULLYING: There is an upside

There has been a lot of discussion lately about bullying in the schools. Well, we have always had bullies in our midst and probably always will have them, and passing more laws will not eliminate the problem.

Since I was the scrawniest kid in my junior high school class I was bullied often. One girl, whenever she saw me, ran all the way across the playground just to kick me in the shins. At another time I was nearly knocked out by a classmate who “had it in for me” for some reason or other.

I wonder if it might be possible that not all bullying is bad. If we remove all conflict then maybe we are doing the child a disservice. As adults, we have to experience all sorts of bullying, and having been bullied as a child I suspect made it easier for me to stand alone as an adult. On some union jobs if you do your work with enthusiasm, you are told to slow down as you may make others look bad.

But, we are led to believe that one of the prime targets today is the gay student. That is really too bad! But, how would anyone know they were gay unless they told them so? If they simply play it cool, maybe no one will notice. It is at least worth a thought that gays learn to be real quiet when around other people. If they insist on “coming out” then maybe they shouldn’t complain about the consequences.

Then, it is possible that some of what is going on right now is designed to desensitize us concerning gays in our society. The Bible makes it clear that this is not an acceptable lifestyle, and until very recently it was considered a treatable disease. Of course if everyone was homosexual that would be the end of our culture. I believe that is what happened to some ancient cultures.

Actually, we shouldn’t get too concerned about bullying until or unless it results in bodily harm, and we already have laws to deal with that. Comments: [email protected]

JIM HOLLINGSWORTH

Hayden