Bullies use words like arrows and actions like cannons to make you squirm and writhe in agony Is it something to do with size I wonder, that a bully is bigger than you, that there’s intimidation because of that, or is it an air of superiority………. Driving to the airport the other day, I was listening to a hoax call request. I was trawling through traffic at sixty, through yet more road works. The host was explaining one request he’d had from a fourteen year old to ring up this other girl who she didn’t like and tell her that her parents had just died in a car accident and that her brother was in hospital and that her house had burned down- Nice. She also explained that she should be called a real ‘so and so’ because her parents had divorced- in my book that qualifies as grade ‘A’ BITCH. What goes on in those minds? – Does a bully get the same pleasure that most of us get from drinking a fine wine when they start applying the squeeze? Crushing their opponent in a heavy press watching the life juices dribble out.

Without realizing it, I was a victim of this behaviour, being labeled with the tag ‘POM’ [English import] when I arrived in a country town, for whatever reason it made me feel different, like I didn’t belong. In high school there was a guy Owen, whose parents were divorced and his mother didn’t have much money- his school clothers were always rough his hair a mess and he was always in trouble. He was also a bit of a short arse – he got called names and picked on regularly. Even I indulged in a hate campaign against one kid in my year, just because he had an attitude. I wonder what these folks have now become? Corporate CEO’s proving their worth- professional criminals, rapists? Kids are so cruel – but it doesn’t end there- it can carry on at work, of course subtle means are employed, ways of ‘keeping people down’ or oppressing them from advancing with promotions and opportunities etc- and who do you talk to?