No More Bullies by Frank Peretti

klutz. That’s what the bullies say, so it has to be true!
    Tragically, we can go through the rest of our lives believing those lies. Even as adults, we shy from new relationships, we’re afraid of taking risks or being wrong, we get hurt easily, we fumble in conversations, we huddle in a corner at gatherings, and we keep kicking ourselves over every little mistake, because we’ve been conditioned to believe that we, of all people, don’t have the right to be imperfect.
    Face it. You’re not perfect, and that’s okay! It’s okay! Nobody’s perfect, and if anybody ever made an issue of it, they were the ones in the wrong, not you.
    To put it simply, what happened to you shouldn’t have happened. What was said about you shouldn’t have been said, and what was done to you shouldn’t have been done. Nobody deserves to be abused.
    So please don’t blame yourself.
    Now, here’s where a change of attitude comes into play, because the third important observation is, you don’t have to put up with it. You really don’t.
    And as for whoever is in charge of the school environment, the workplace, the home, or the street, they shouldn’t expect you to .
    Looking back, one of the greatest mysteries of my life is why I did put up with it for so long. I can only explain it this way: I thought I had to. Most of the abuse I endured happened at school. There was no way I could avoid it. After all, it was school . While transferring to another school district, attending private school, or homeschooling may be viable options for some families today, these were not options for my family. I was stuck in that one school. My parents made me go. The teachers made me sit at my desk. I was a good kid trying to be obedient. No one ever told me, “Frank, you’re in school to learn, not to be picked on and tormented. Teasing and abuse are not part of the package, and we won’t allow it. We care about you, so if anyone causes you trouble, let us know.”
    Here comes that word again: attitude. In my case, parents and teachers simply weren’t dealing with abuse—if they were , it sure wasn’t on my planet. As far as I, the timid, obedient, little kid, could see or understand, my parents said I had to be there, the teachers implied through inaction that it was okay for me to be tormented, and the unwritten, anti-snitching law among the kids warned me that I dare not tell anybody. I resigned myself to enduring the abusive behavior of the bullies in my life for most of my junior-high and high-school education.
    Attitude, attitude, ATTITUDE! We must change our attitudes regarding this sort of behavior. Those in authority need to care, and you should expect them to care. It matters to you, and it should matter to them. Forget about that foolish, childhood code of silence: Speak up. Let someone know what’s going on, and ask them—yes, expect them—to do something about it. If you’re a kid under someone’s legal authority, you still have rights as a human being. You deserve to be regarded as God’s unique, special creation— because you are!
    The same holds true for bullying on the job. If you are being physically, verbally, or emotionally abused at work, speak to your supervisor, and if I may suggest it, make it a matter of productivity and money. If fellow workers are bullying you, help the supervisor to understand that it’s keeping you from doing your job effectively, and, therefore, it’s affecting the smooth operation of the department. Furthermore, it’s going to affect the bottom line. The supervisor isn’t going to make his numbers because the crew isn’t working well as a team, and it’s going to be his rear end in the ringer. Any boss, from supervisor to CEO, wants the business to run smoothly and therefore shouldn’t stand for such disruptions.
    Speak up. You really don’t have to tolerate the abuse any