In this month’s issue, we published articles to raise the
awareness of cyberbullying and bullying in general. In the tech article, we
pointed out that if you are a victim, then you are not alone. Teens, pre-teens
and adults can sometimes, through no fault of their own, become the target of
someone’s venom. On the one hand, this can happen over social media, making it
in actuality “anti-social” media. Fortunately, as American citizens, we have
rights against such harassment, strengthened by new anti-bullying legislation
and the hosting sites are more aware and are willing to take down negative
content and bar negative people from using their services.
In my editorial, “Starting the Conversation: Bullying Advice”,
I mention that I have also been a victim of bullying but I received help and
advice from several places including my mother, who intervened; the Sisters of
St. Benedict where I went to High School (unfortunately that school is no longer open but take a look at the many
schools advertising in this month’s issue and the school directory to find
another wonderful school and academic program); and even years later, my
husband’s philosophy that there are some people that mistakenly think that
their candle will burn brighter if they blow out everyone else’s when, in
reality, they will eventually just blow out their own.
Other great advice I received was from a very hard-nosed
businessman from Uniontown, who insisted that I always remember to never let
anyone know that they can upset me or make me angry – he said, the trick is to
never react in any way because if bad people know they can make you react by “pressing
your buttons” then they will, just because they can. If someone already thinks
they can, then the best thing you can do is stop reacting and just shake your
head. It is surprising how well this works. A good friend of mine does the
head-shake at aggressive drivers and it always seems to work to calm them down
and make them drive more sensibly – not sure why this works, I’m just happy it does.
