Today, February 26th, 2025 is being touted as Pink Shirt Day, in which people wear Pink Shirts to raise awareness and funding for anti-bullying initiatives. I did not participate for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I do not own a pink T-shirt. I realize that I probably could have purchased one from work as they really seem to embrace all these causes and alike. I don't understand all of them and often choose not to participate and at risk of sounding like an asshole, I chose not to participate in this display of solidarity, either.
The second reason I chose not to participate in this endeavour, today, is the fact that I don't see bullying as all that bad. Before you start throwing hate my way, please know that I do not endorse bullying either. I just feel that it has it's place in our society and when used properly, it can be beneficial to both parties.
"How am I a better person for having been bullied?" you ask. Well... I, for one, would never have turned out to be the incredible person that I am today, had I not been bullied relentlessly as a kid. I was bullied by older kids at school. I was a small kid, so the bigger kids my own age would pick on me, too. Not to mention my home life, at times (most times) was kinda shitty, being bullied by an alcoholic father. As well as, just strangers. They see a small kid and they're going to victimize that kid. It's natural selection. Was it all bad? I guess at the time it was quite devastating. Especially from my dad, but in retrospect, I can see where I was kind of a f*ck up in his eyes. That aside, I learned from being picked on and bullied. I used that mental and physical anguish as fuel to shape who I would eventually become.
IF, I had gone through my years without the bullying and lived a sheltered life like the kids today do, who knows what kind of an asshole I may have become? I admit that, yes, I am somewhat of an asshole, today, but dialed down because of being humbled by bullies my whole life. I'd be unbearable if I had been sheltered and coddled like the kids today.
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you view it, I did not have social media as a kid, so I cannot speak with any degree of authority on the perils of being bullied nonstop, 24/7, via Facebook, Twitter and the Tik Tok. Hell, as an adult, I get hammered on by idiots, usually uneducated idiots, so I consider the source, but it's an experience that, doesn't bother me in the sense that it offends me, but it's just a pain in the ass to have to educate these morons. Does that make me a bully for calling them idiots? Not when regarding the hateful shit I endure sometimes.
So, I guess perhaps, initiatives are helpful for those too soft to accept their bullying as a tool to better themselves, is warranted. People, these days, aren't as strong, mentally, as they once were. Not everyone, especially today's youth, can appreciate the forest for the trees.
I was bullied heavy, when I was a kid. I remember entering the ninth grade and a twelfth grader would just bully me relentlessly and would not let up, even when his buddy would tell him to stop, he wouldn't. I was a pipsqueak when I entered high school and this guy didn't like that I was so small. All these years later, I imagine I would tower over that asshole, today. He'd be whistling another tune, that's for sure. But I digress.
I stated above that bullying is beneficial to both parties. On one hand, the bully gets to do something they enjoy and that's something we all want in our lives. The person being bullied, gets to learn about their shortcomings and what to work on to better themselves. Then later in life, when the bullied person is rich and successful, they can gloat over the bully when they're pumping gas or whatever dead end job they wound up doing. Bullies often piss their lives away, but also, in some rare cases, a bullied person can snap and beat the ever-lovin' shit out of the bully, then everyone wins. Except maybe the bully, but... Blah blah blah, something about broken eggs.
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