Bullying is like a stinky weed. It needs to be eradicated at the root, not just chopped off to grow back again. I can say from experience that being bullied is the pits. I have been bullied, and it takes too much energy dealing with it. Some people shrug it off, some fight back with words, but some people snap. That is tragic.

What we must do as a society is dig up the root and cause it to wither. People who purposely hurt or mercilessly haze others have a serious problem. We cannot simply ignore a bully's mental illness. There are organizations and professionals trained to work with them.

What I have done in the past when a person chose to bully me is ask for intervention. By shining a light on their dark behavior, I hoped to help them and to help me. No rational person just willy-nilly selects another human being to start beating up on by bullying them. How dare anyone use their position to make a co-worker or patient have a harder time than normal life already presents with its ups and downs.

When the person being bullied gets fed up and takes action against the bully, sometimes innocent bystanders get hurt. I believe society can be better than this. It is in the very name society.  Society is a group of individuals interacting in ways that focus on their personal needs and the needs of the group. For example, some may need the services provided, so they pay for them, while some are being paid to provide the services that the others need. Society.

Finally, I have wondered why good and smart people who realize that bullying is going on take no action to stop it. They look the other way while the bullying persists. Digging their heads in the sand like ostriches, they leave the person being bullied on their own to either take it or to stop it.

   Evelyn established PathChoice in 1992 and can be reached at www.pathchoicepastoralcounseling.weebly.com or EvDove03@yahoo.com.