<p>It is amazing how deep emotional scars can run, even though we think we’ve outgrown them. I am just grateful that the bullies were never in my classes in HS or beyond. It is so wrong for people to pick on others and perhaps that is one of the many reasons I raised our kids to be kind to ALL people and never gossip about people or say or do unkind things to them. </p>
<p>My sisters still are amazed at that and awful gossips. I don’t relate to them very well, though we can carry on a very superficial conversation and friendship. My older sister states periodically in amazement that my kids treat people like all people are really equal–don’t understand her continuous amazement about it and don’t know any other way to be.</p>
<p>I think being bullied can have profound effects on our personalities. If and when we are in positions of power, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to treat all people as valuable and having something to contribute. This has greatly helped me in my professional life, especially in forging partnerships and coalitions with people and organizations form different backgorunds.</p>
<p>Cyberbullying is very scary because it means the victims can have no respite as it continues past the schoolyard and can spread so widely so quickly. It really makes you wonder about some people–how can people be so cruel to one another and yet sleep at night and have no thought or memory of how they are harming others. I suppose they must rationalize to themselves or develop amnesia or somehow see it as “harmless fun.” I still am able to empathize with victims, having had to bear that role for many painful years while growing up.</p>