Moral Fortitude

Taking liberties 

Taking liberties is what every bully aspires to accomplishing. I wonder about the first moment in a bullies lifetime, when they aggressively got what they wanted by imposing on someone slightly smaller, someone mild and gentle, someone kind in nature. Did the bully get a thrill when they saw shock, dismay, hurt, in the facial expression of the one they stole from, shoved out of the way, punched, or cruelly called vile names? 

Imagine being the bully... eeck, if you are able to imagine this, perhaps you are one?!

The next day

I recall being the tender age of seven. My family moved to London Ontario, and my father had an old friend living here, that we went to visit. His friend had two daughters, and one of them was my age. We played together during that visit. The next day, I went to my new school, and there she was, my Sunday  playmate... that somehow didn't seem to recognize me? She wouldn't say hello, or acknowledge me in anyway... hmmm, how strange. 

Dismissive behaviour

As a child, I did not have the words or emotional maturity to verbalize my confusion over her oddly dismissive behaviour. Years later, in grade seven or eight, she was one of four vicious girls that would corner a selected female classmate at recess, calling the victim every nasty name they could think of. This went on for many a recess, with fresh meat to antagonize, when they had finished a girl off, and left her emotionally battered and bruised: in other words, they would move on to next. I didn't like their behaviour, and I got the nickname toughie for some reason I cannot recall. This was the word I heard over and over again one day in the line up, to go back into class after recess. For whatever reason, with eyes and nose running, I shouted "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Something inside of me refused to be someone else's poison sponge.

And they did, they left me alone. The teacher heard me yell this, but he didn't investigate... hmmm again, shame on that lazy sorry excuse for a grade school Catholic teacher. He did not have charity in his heart, nor did he care for the downtrodden. I did, however, get a sweet compliment from one of the other girls that had also been mistreated by the wicked witch foursome, who stated "Good for you." 

Seem to go unnoticed

I still marvel at the viciousness of these little girls. They savoured cruelty, and while they cornered an unwitting victim, others gathered to watch. Where, oh where, was the teacher on yard duty? How did this seem to go unnoticed, without interruption, despite its repetitive daily theme of trap and torture? All I can say is this is not uncommon: looking the other way is a way of life for the many. Stepping in requires interest, energy, and AND, moral fortitude. 

This is the point in my writing where I begin to smirk in appreciation for the phrase, moral fortitude. Moral mortals will not, can not, refuse to look away, when they see someone being mistreated, abused, battered and broken, at the hands of the vicious. We cannot do it. We must shout "LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

WIMPS, whimpering LOSERS

I see the bullies as hunting for sport. It is grotesque knowing that they take pleasure in the pain they willingly inflict, but let us remember that they are WIMPS when challenged. They are pathetic little whimpering LOSERS, when someone bigger then them stands up and looms, casting shadows that make them mutter and stutter and lose their strength. And this, dear reader, is what we simply must do, one and all. Stand looming over them, letting them know, we are fearless in the face of their ridiculousness. 

What I am realizing in my writing, is that microcosmic foursome of vicious little girls gathered strength from an audience. They also gave each other the courage to commit crimes against their unwitting victims, because clearly, they had plotted and planned who would get the treatment before recess began: after all, less than fifteen minutes had to be well utilized if they were going to break a girl down and shatter her innocence and confidence. That microcosm represents all the bullies of the world, on a macrocosmic scale in our time. The cowards found their others, plotted and planned, and then ensured they had an audience to witness their vile attacks on unwitting victims, poison sponges that did not know how to yell "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

⭕️ Sometimes, we have to yell it for them, dear reader.

⭕️ Sometimes, we have to step into the gap, be willing to shout down the wimps, the cowardly pathetic losers that get their jollies from injuring others.

⭕️ Sometimes, we need to demonstrate what moral fortitude looks and sounds like, in order for others to pick up their own weapons of self defence, and cripple the ugly beasts living inside of the bullies.

Sometimes, we just plain old need to shout, "LEAVE ME ALONE, OR ELSE!"