Saturday, October 18, 2014

BULLYING AS CONDITIONING

BULLYING AS CONDITIONING Bullying is an outgrowth of at-home conditioning. It is not a normal state. In grade school, I punched a classmate in his face, breaking his glasses, after my sister complained that he had been 'bothering' her. Remembering that my parents had told me, repeatedly, to protect my sister from all accost-attempts, I swung on my 1st or 2nd grade classmate without more, doing the damage and making him cry! Later that day, his father, who knew my father, came by our house and received money for new eye-glass frames, while telling my father about the incident. To my relief, I did not get in trouble although my father somewhat wryly grinned as he later inquired about the occurrence. Years later, my sister told me that she had made it all up; that my classmate had not been 'bothering' her; that she just did not like him . I was stunned! From hero to goat, I became in my own eyes, in light of the truth. My parents never brought the subject up again, and I never started any more fights, though I later had a few such scrapes on the playground . But for my parents' blanket command to protect my sister at all costs, I would not have peremptorily punched that guy in primary school. Thus, for me, at least, bullying is a matter of at home-conditioning, and it is not my natural state of mind. As for you or others, I do not know.