Don't Be a Bully

I loved the old tv series Batman. The villains always ended up losing spectacularly. It was satisfying to see those bullies receive their just desserts, with a POW! added for good measure.

It is always nice to see a meany brought down. That theme has fueled Hollywood. Villains like Hans Gruber, bully extraordinaire, losing spectacularly, always satisfied.

Then there were the historical dramas, especially ones like Schindler's List or Roots, where the bullies were evil on an epic, systemized scale, and they were real. We hated them with a passion.

A bully is defined as a person who habitually seeks to harm those who they perceive as vulnerable. I think most of us are not bullies, but I believe many of us have engaged in bullying behavior at times in our lives.

I have. I always defended the underdog unless I was the overdog in the scenario. I was not always nice when trying to get someone to do what I wanted.

But, you know what? I have shame and regret around that. Why? Because I know bullying is bad. I know this because of messages pounded into my synapses and fibers and very being.

Then I was a Christian for years. I heard many anti-bully sermons. Sermons like ones focusing on the story of Nathan reprimanding David for his bully behavior, using the example of a rich man taking a poor man's only lamb from him.

David was horrified at the story, and it broke him to realize he symbolically was that man. He knew it was wrong for wealthy and powerful people to forcibly take from poor people, causing them to suffer. He felt shame. He had to acknowledge he was the bully.

We heard about the first bully, Cain. He killed his brother out of jealousy. He wanted vengeance because his pride was wounded. He wanted to be number one in God's eyes. And thus, he became a bully. He knew it was wrong. He tried to hide.

Then the big one. The Good Samaritan. The bullies were the ones who purposely looked away while the one who was considered less than by the leaders helped a victim of violence. The one who lived ina place that systemically oppressed him because of his identity was the one to help the injured man.And sermons lauded him.

What happened to our instinctive hatred of bullying? Today a bully runs the white house. He, and his minions, have stolen many people's only lamb.

They are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths through dismantling of programs like USAID. They have taken, or are working to take, healthcare away from most vulnerable. They have kidnapped, intimidated and in some cases sent people to horrible prisons to be tortured and abused with no exit date or process .

They have put a target on the back of anyone who is not like them. They have targeted those who disagree with their stance and promised government over-reach reprisal. (Bullies don't like to be called on their crap).

Evangelical Christians, for example, have disavowed the teachings of Christ in favor of bullying in his name. Leaders in the White House have prayer meetings before going out to bomb boats, without due process and with the express intent to kill, maim and destroy. Brcause they want a smaller, financially unstable country's lamb.

People cheer them on on social media, and glory in doing it with racist fervor. I am not sure how to convince them that bullying is wrong. Humans, and all animals, tend to be drawn to others like them. And to be suspicious of those who are different.

It takes intention to overcome that. It takes courage, self-reflection, and a desire to live better and kinder.

Bullying is easy. And if you want to justify it, that is also easy. We can always find stories of bad people of all races, ethnicities, and genders. Just find one example of a brown person commiting acts of violence and we can self-righteously target everyone else who is brown.

Note we don't do that if they are white. A white offender is a bad person. A brown offender means all brown people are bad.

Anyway, it is up to us to get back to the place where we are disgusted by bullying behavior. If you are a Christian, please re-read Jesus' words on what the true church is, on how to treat foreigners, on how to treat the poor, on how to treat each other.

I mention Christians because evangelical Christians make up a large percentage of those who voted for bullying. But we all are implicated. (And to be clear, some of the kindest, least bullying people I know are Christians).

For all of us, for the f**king sake of humanity, let's fight bullies. I for one did not vote to take vulnerable people's only lamb. I did not vote to Make America a Bully Again.