I gotta tell you…this week’s question was hard to get. A student in Iowa emailed me because he wants to help his friend who is getting picked on and bullied all the time. I absolutely hate that! What makes me cringe even more is that the student being bullied has ZERO control over the reason she gets picked on.
Who reading this has never been picked on or bullied before? Probably nobody. I know that I was picked by a certain group of girls all through junior high and high school and they used absolutely every chance they got to put me down and make me feel bad about myself.
I’m lucky because although it hurt my feelings tremendously, I was strong enough to get past it. But I really wish that some of my friends at the time were given the advice that I gave to Derrick today. I know that they probably were worried about getting bullied and picked on themselves and that’s why they didn’t step in and say something…but it would have made me feel so much better about myself if they had.
So, from now on…if you see anybody picking on your friend, you need to call the bully out on it. It’s not cool. And it’s definitely not funny. By making the bully realize that your friend is not an easy target, they’ll move on. And your friend will be forever grateful to you.
Be a good friend and stick up for your friend!
P.S. I was serious about no physical confrontations!