Even Bullies Have an Inner Monk

A REFLECTION ON BEING BULLIED AND FINDING COMPASSION FOR THE BULLY

By age six, I was a magnet for bullies

I was never a bully

Quite the opposite, in fact: I was the kid who was prone to being bullied. They came for me like there was a neon target on my back.

Being shorter than most (until I was 16), I was the typical 60-90-pound weakling. Most of the bullies that targeted me were much larger in every way and that, undoubtedly, empowered them to treat others like me with threats and occasionally carrying them out.

The earliest memory of being bullied was by a neighbor kid named Johnny. He lived across the street and one house over when we lived in Pasadena, Texas, in the 60s.

I don’t know why he felt it necessary to bully me, but he did. For months at a time I was afraid to play outside -always feeling it necessary to look over my shoulder- until it culminated one warm, humid Texas afternoon with Johnny finally beating the crap out of me.

My dad witnessed this and finally, when I guess he couldn’t stand it any longer (I guess he was hoping I’d stand up fo…