{"id":726,"date":"2012-10-03T13:18:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T19:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?p=726"},"modified":"2012-10-03T14:02:03","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T20:02:03","slug":"bully1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/","title":{"rendered":"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I turned 57 last month. I suppose I\u2019m getting to the point of life where I\u2019m supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those moments.<\/p>\n

I have a hard time looking back wistfully at my childhood.<\/p>\n

You see, I was one of \u201cthose\u201d kids.<\/p>\n

I was one of the ones who grew up looking over their shoulders, waiting for the bully to show up.<\/p>\n

I was the kid who couldn\u2019t manage to play any sport without screwing things up for my team.<\/p>\n

I was the kid who always got picked last.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I did get chosen, the other kids would groan when they knew I was going to be on their team.<\/p>\n

I was the easy out.<\/p>\n

I was the nerd.<\/p>\n

I was the geek.<\/p>\n

If I could possibly do or say something wrong, I did it.<\/p>\n

My most vivid sports memory from junior high was when we did a relay race in gym class. I wasn\u2019t good at any sports, but I could run fast. And by some miracle I ended up in the anchor position for my team.<\/p>\n

When I was tagged, I took off as fast as I could. The guy I was running against was fast, too, but I had an edge on him.<\/p>\n

As we both tore across the high school parking lot \u2014 we didn\u2019t have a track \u2014 I pulled ahead of him. For the first time in my life, I was going to win the race. I can remember the thrill of knowing that for once, I wasn\u2019t going to be the goat.<\/p>\n

My thrill was short-lived.<\/p>\n

Somehow, my feet got tangled and I went sprawling forward on the asphalt. I tumbled and cut up my knee and my shoulder, but I didn\u2019t care about the physical pain.<\/p>\n

What really hurt was the humiliation.<\/p>\n

The embarrassment.<\/p>\n

The knowledge that behind my back, all my peers were rolling their eyes and saying, \u201cPence did it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will probably come as no surprise to you that Charlie Brown was my favorite comic character.<\/p>\n

Charlie Brown, who couldn\u2019t fly a kite, couldn\u2019t win a baseball game, couldn\u2019t kick a football, and who was always called a \u201cblockhead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie and I were soul mates.<\/p>\n

In case you didn\u2019t know it, October is National Anti-Bullying Awareness Month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I grew up long before people really knew or cared about the issue of bullying. I grew up in a time where the best you could do was just keep your head down and try to survive.<\/p>\n

Now people are beginning to stand up to the bullies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And I for one applaud them.<\/p>\n

For the rest of this month (except for next week, when I\u2019ll be doing a book review), I\u2019m going to be blogging about bullying. I\u2019ll talk about what I\u2019ve experienced, what others have experienced, what I\u2019ve learned, and about how being bullied changed me\u2014both positively and negatively.<\/p>\n

If you know someone who is being bullied, I hope you\u2019ll read these posts and share them. If you are being or have been bullied, I encourage you to share your story here.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll never stop bullying entirely. To do that we\u2019d have to change human nature.<\/p>\n

But maybe at least we can shine enough light on it to make some rethink their actions.<\/p>\n

And maybe we can help those kids who are being bullied understand that they don\u2019t stand alone.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I turned 57 last month. I suppose I\u2019m getting to the point of life where I\u2019m supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those moments. I have a hard time looking back wistfully at my childhood. You see, I was one of \u201cthose\u201d kids. I was one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,4,39],"tags":[87,11,86,85,5,8,18,28,14,57],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bullying","category-parenting","category-youth-culture","tag-anti-bullying-awareness-month","tag-boys","tag-bullies","tag-bullying-2","tag-childhood","tag-emotions","tag-fear","tag-males","tag-sons","tag-special-needs-children"],"yoast_head":"\nOctober is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I turned 57 last month. I suppose I'm getting to the point of life where I'm supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I turned 57 last month. I suppose I'm getting to the point of life where I'm supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Few Grown Men\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T19:18:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T20:02:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/files\/2012\/10\/BullyingBoy-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jamespence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jamespence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/\",\"name\":\"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-03T19:18:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-03T20:02:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670\"},\"description\":\"I turned 57 last month. I suppose I'm getting to the point of life where I'm supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/\",\"name\":\"A Few Grown Men\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670\",\"name\":\"jamespence\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jamespence\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/author\/jamespence\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month","description":"I turned 57 last month. I suppose I'm getting to the point of life where I'm supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month","og_description":"I turned 57 last month. I suppose I'm getting to the point of life where I'm supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/","og_site_name":"A Few Grown Men","article_published_time":"2012-10-03T19:18:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-03T20:02:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/files\/2012\/10\/BullyingBoy-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"jamespence","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jamespence","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/","name":"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-03T19:18:32+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-03T20:02:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670"},"description":"I turned 57 last month. I suppose I'm getting to the point of life where I'm supposed to look back wistfully at my childhood and wish I could relive those","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/10\/bully1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/","name":"A Few Grown Men","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670","name":"jamespence","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jamespence"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/author\/jamespence\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}