There has been a lot of activity in the story of my Facebook friend and co-workers child. I’m not going to re-hash what happened exactly – just to say bullying is clearly wrong.

There are different types of bullying – some is just talking poorly about someone (bullying at a distance) – mocking someone, driving past their house giving them the finger (I didn’t use a camera to see you – and I know it was you, you never looked other than straight ahead this time. lets see how smart you really are – figure it out and let me know; rippertoews@gmail.com 👋), deception, etc… and there is also physical bullying. Racism also can play a role in bullying.

Let’s be clear from the start – there is no platform or defense for bullying from adults or children, and if there is, I’d love to hear it.

If you have believe in God, then you should know that we are made in the image of God, each one of us. Now, we are very far away from him (in form and power) but still in the image. This means that we should remember that we are talking about or to a person God created for a purpose. I don’t believe God is impressed with people who bully.

It would be easy to say people who bully are whatever (stupid, etc) but it is a conscious decision – from a psychological perspective – I’d say that it has nothing to do with the person being bullied (it is outside of them). People who engage in bullying are inherently weak; weak in character, and weak in personal power. Individuals who are supremely confident in their own skin, don’t bully, and don’t need to bully.

The act of bullying is an attempt to signal power externally when an audience is present, or an attempt to manifest the perception of power to themselves during the act. In other words, bullying is initiated from a lesser position of weakness in both cases as an immature attempt to elevate oneself at the expense of another.

Any power gained by the bully is symbolic – it doesn’t not represent or demonstrate actual power, just the perception of said power, and even that perhaps only to themselves; and in the case of physical violence, certainly a dim & pathetic grasp at relevance in the life of the targeted person.

When you reframe the bullying in the correct perspective; bullies are to be ignored, they simply don’t matter. If someone wants agency in your life, all they need to do is start a conversation the same way every other mature and intelligent person does. Bullies don’t have enough personal moxie and/or high intellect to engage a peer in convo.

But we are still called to pray for our enemies, and those who would do us harm, no matter how uncalled their behavior is, or how misguided their action(s) are.

Jason