I totally agree with this. I am 62 & there wasn't the bullying in those days like there is now....but schools were different them, the teachers had authority over the class, they had the ability to teach moral values & they didn't have their hands tied when bad things happened like they do now. People have become heartless as they themselves have been hurt in ways that they end up striking out with their bullying.....IT"S wrong but no one has taught them different & it definitely isn't taught in the homes any more how to respect others or even care for others.

I remember having a boy in my grade school class who had failed 3 years of school.....had no idea what was really wrong with him but he definitely had a learning disability. The kids in the class didn't necessarily make friends with him because he wasn't into making friends with those in the class but they also didn't bully him or make fun of him either......now that is one kid if there was going to be bullying would have been bullied & it just didn't happen. There was a lot more respect for people's feelings back in those days......says a lot for how society has changed.....they think they have progressed so much by getting rid of everything that existed back in those days & look where it has brought them.....yes, lots of progress.

I was a smart kid, but very shy, & very quiet because I was afraid to say anything for fear I would sound as stupid as I felt my father sounded when he talked to people. I kept my thoughts & feelings definitely inside....but everyone was kind to me. I did my thing in school & was involved in the orchestra from the time I was in 3rd grade. I was very athletic for what athletics girls were allowed to be involved back in those days...LOL....no baseball teams or football & even if there had been my mother didn't drive so I couldn't have been involved in anything that I couldn't walk to anyway. So even with not being able to be involved in things the other kids were involved & everyone accepted me. Teachers liked me & treated me great. I remember always getting the good grades but there was a group of us kids that all got good grades together & we stuck together.

I also remember that when anyone ever said comments about someone behind their back, I would always be the one that stuck up for them. I would stick up for any animal I saw being abused to the point where I actually put my life between them & the person who was abusing them.

When we were first married, my H started using sarcasm to put me down thinking he was being funny, I threw it back at him for a short while but hated the way it made me feel so I put a stop to that by telling him he could either stop or get the hell out of my life. It took over a year of constantly reminding him before he broke that habit......don't even know what started it but guess he thought his IQ was so high & Don Rickles was big at the time so he thought it was funny. But he was never good at knowing what socially acceptable things were. It irritated me because I was in the university getting my degree & I had a better GPA than he ever had because he had an attitude problem that got in his way of his success (I have later found out more of the reasons behind his behaviors after I finally left him).

When our daughter was in school & not sure why she ended up in a situation with this other girl, & the teacher wouldn't do anything about it....I tried to let her resolve it herself to start with....but when it got worse.....MOM stepped in to take control of the situation & get it resolved. I wasn't about to allow my daughter to be put into situations where she was being disrespected.....also stuck up for her in school after she went through a lot of changes & move & had just lost her grandpa to heart failure.....she was really happy in her new class & all of a sudden they were going to change teachers & class & I thought....NO, they aren't going to put my daughter through another change to deal with. Initially they told me there wasn't anything that could be done....I never took NO for an answer when I knew it was wrong so I went to the principal & spelled out all the reasons WHY they shouldn't be moving my daughter to the other class. I won the battle & so did my daughter & she had a really good semester & adapted to her new school really well.

Lots of parents play the excuse that they have a career to hold down & don't have time...but I was a firmware design engineer & I worked sometimes 60-70 hour weeks but I always had time to hear my daughter & to stick up for what her needs were even with the demands of my career. I always made sure my daughter didn't fall between the cracks mostly because I had a mother that had no idea how to stick up for herself let alone stick up for anyone else so I had to learn from the beginning of my life to stick up for myself & I was lucky to grow up at the time I did because there was a lot more respect for others than there is now even though people talk big about respect, the actions don't reflect what they say many times & parents are so self absorbed that they don't even see what their kids are doing so much of the time let alone being in touch with their needs.

Many times those bullies come from abusive homes & that's what they have learned from their parents....you can tell someone not to be a bully but unless you teach them what the appropriate behavior is & continually reinforce the right behavior....they just go home & have the bully behavior reinforced there.......where to they LEARN what the appropriate behavior REALLY is....just telling someone not to act the way they are acting isn't teaching them what the right behavior actually is. The behavior should NEVER be justifies....but there needs to be more work done on teaching those people who are bullies what appropriate behavior is really like.....it's just like dealing with my H & his sarcasm......unless I had continually been on him for that year & continually reminded him every time he did it & corrected his behavior, he would have NEVER learned by someone telling him not to do it if he was never taught what the right behavior really was.