Becoming a bully.

One of my friends, Jokey, used to be pretty spineless in his younger years. he would let anyone walk all over him and abuse him without saying a word. One person, Dean, really liked to pick on him and I often found myself intervening to end it. Sometimes physically.

Sadly, that person, Dean, was also a friend. A friend who had been picked on and bullied all through school and by his father. He took a route that people with similar experiences sometimes take, he became a bully himself when he found someone weaker.

One day Jokey grew a spine. It was nice to see him stand up for himself for a change. Unfortunately, he didn't grow a filter or a sense of discretion. When one guy pissed him off he felt it was fair play to lash out verbally at that persons wife in public and create a scene. He went from being a door mat to being the type of person who used to pick on him. In effect, at times, he became Dean. He became a bully.

It is actually a fairly easy transition from victim to bully. Sometimes they bully their old bullies. Sometimes they just fixate on a weaker person. The internet makes it even easier to bully or just flat out attack people. Some people do it directly while others take a more circuitous route and try to be anonymous. In the end they become that which they hated. A bully.

It is a path I can see myself taking if I didn't have boundaries I try to stick to. There are lines I try not to cross. It is tempting sometimes, and I can't claim that I am infallible and will never cross them, but I try not to do it.

*note* I posted this prematurely ... hit publish instead of save ... but I figured what the hell, it can stay as is.