THE NARRATIVE ARC

Facing the Bully

Because there will always be one

A playground waiting on the next bully to arrive. Photo by Dave Sherrill on Unsplash

It’s not so much when you walk away from the bully that he wins; it’s when he continues living in your head, and you hear yourself saying all those things you want to say or wish you had said, but, of course, didn’t.

Many of us remember the bullies who lived on the playground where we likely first met them back in grammar school.

Mine sidles over to me on one of the first days I stood on the asphalt part of our school’s recess area. My daddy had dropped me off early, as he was still gauging what time he should get me to school so he’d have enough time for the thirty+ minute drive to his office in Birmingham. So I stood alone for a while watching the kids who actually knew each other run and circle the field and do whatever kids do at 7:40 on a warm September morning.

First grade isn’t the most difficult year a kid will experience, but try telling that to an introverted six-year old who so badly wished he could be back at home watching Captain Kangaroo as he used to, unbullied and at peace with his world.

For on the grammar school playground, neither Mr. Moose, Mr. Green Jeans, Bunny Rabbit, nor the Captain himself could prevent a sixth grader named Perry Gothard (real name because doesn’t it fit?) from…