Day 152: Bullying

Daily Blog Challenge Day 152/365

What is Bullying?  Is it the same thing as a mean person?

Bullying has been in the news a lot lately (cyber bullying, the situation with the Dolphins) and I hear the word used often to describe behavior.  I am concerned because I am starting to believe that many students and even adults are confused about what constitutes bullying.  I will be honest, I add myself to the list of confused.

There is no doubt that bullying is a serious thing and it is something we need to eradicate, but I believe we need to have a shared definition in order to know what we are trying to stop.  In my view, bullying is behavior that is intended to hurt another person by using any information to form judgments and personally attack them.  I think most of us were exposed to "bullying" at some time in our life and people will be mean at times.  However, there is a big difference between teasing (being called a name) and the endless torture that some people are put through (judgement attacks).

The bottom line is people are mean and many of us have to deal with these people.  I have heard of many work places that deal with bullying behavior, so it is not something limited to children.

Although the definition of bullying is not clear to me, I believe I am better able to tell you what it is not.
1.  Bullying is not someone who disagrees with you.
2.  Bullying is not someone who is telling you what to do (in a situation where they are helping.)
3.  Bullying may start as teasing, but is far more complex.

How do you define bullying?

Thank you for reading.