Why You Can’t Prevent Bullying

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, a month where entities all across the United States try to raise awareness through different events, activities, educational programs, outreach and more.

This movement was started by www.pacer.org in 2006 as a week long event to educate their local community regarding bullying, which has now morphed into a national movement each month. Their tagline is, "The End of Bullying Begins with You".

I applaud what this organization has done and agree with their tagline that, "The End of Bullying Begins with You" – with one exception.

No one – no organization, no entity, no school, counselor, parent or anyone else is going to be able to prevent or end bullying.

There are ALWAYS going to be bullies.

There are always going to be bullies in the world; there is nothing we can do about that.  Yes, we can do our best to educate and inspire each other to prevent bullying and it is the right thing to do – but we want to go one step further.

There is an old personal development quote that says, "Don't wish for THINGS to be different; wish YOU were different."

Along the same lines of that tagline, "The End of Bullying Begins with You", bullying is about YOU. Your strength of character, your level of self esteem, your belief in yourself, your level of emotional toughness and maturity and yes, sometimes about your level of physical fitness.

The challenge that I believe is facing the entire anti-bullying community is the focus is on the bully and bullying behavior – not on the target of  the bully. There are always going to be bullies; we cannot control other human beings, which means we want to focus on what we can control – ourselves.

By teaching ourselves and our kids how to have empathy for others, to follow the Golden Rule, to be mentally, emotionally and physically strong, have a rock-solid self image and value ourselves are the keys to being able to confront and deal with the bullies in our lives.

Those keys, along with specific tools that can be taught and used regularly – almost like a workout routine – are what is needed to face the down the bullying pandemic.

It starts with you and I. As they taught us in The Marines, we must "Lead By Example". That is why I created this website and wrote the book, "Bullies Suck"; to give people like you and I the tools to face the bullies in their lives and to pass that knowledge on to our children.

Bullies and bullying are not going to stop or go away. We cannot control others, only ourselves; this means growing stronger in all areas so that we can overcome the bullies in our lives.

Best,

Sensei

P.S. – If you haven't gotten your copy of the newly revised and expanded edition of "Bullies Suck", you can go HERE.