Fight fire with fire?

[Snowbat]

I'd like to hear your opinions on this.

A bunch of years ago, I was still at school. I was in a boarding school and at our dining table there was a handicapped kid. About a year or two younger than me and the rest of the people at my table. He wasn't severely handicapped. Mentally he was perfectly fine but he had some congenital muscle disease which made his leg and arm muscles very twitchy and pretty weak.

Needless to say, he was an easy target to pick on. So the other guys at my table bullied him with really mean stuff about his handicap. I kept telling them to stop it and to leave him alone.

They didn't listen. I had the reputation of being hyperkinetic, but not agressive at all. The teachers also knew that I was a good kid that would never start a fight so the bullies didn't really expect me to actually take any physical action.

This went on for weeks, the bullied boy never dared to go to the teachers out of fear for retaliation from the bullies I guess. Or maybe it was shame. I dunno.

One day, the main bully made me snap. He took the boy's lunch sandwich and just started eating it. The boy told him to give it back but the bully replied something like "well, what are you gonna do about it". This angered me so much. I hate this kind of cowardice.

So I told him to give it back. Of course the bully didn't comply and just said how good the sandwich was.

This enraged me. I stood up, grabbed the bully and punched him in the face, full strength. He fell down the ground and I could suddenly see *everyone* in the lunch room looking at me in shock. I was really not known for being someone who picks fights at all. I was shocked at myself for actually doing this. I had never punched anyone so hard in my whole life, except during martial arts class, but that's obviously a different thing. My rage had literally made me explode.

I got sent to the principal's office. He was too very shocked to hear I had just punched someone right in the face. I explained why I did it but said it was no excuse. And berated me for doing it and (using his exact words more or less) "it's even worse because when you practice martial arts, you know better not to use it for this!"

Basically, I had fought fire with fire. Needless to say, the bully left the boy alone from that day on because after that, he actually told me he realizes he went too far.

But do I regret doing it? Hell no. I don't. I know I should regret it but I just can't. I could have gone to the teacher and tell everything and stuff... but I dunno I still feel I did something that actually helped.

I absolutely despise bullies. It's the best way to make me really angry. I was talking about this with a friend a while ago. And he tends to say I shouldn't have done it since violence is usually not the right answer. I find it hard to agree with that.

[MasterPain]

There are consequences for actions. At least there should be. Sometimes consequences hit you in the face.

Did the bullying stop after this?

[Snowbat]

There are consequences for actions. At least there should be. Sometimes consequences hit you in the face.

Did the bullying stop after this?

yeah they left him alone after that. Well basically, I think the main bully got the message and realized that bullying a handicapped boy is really low.

[MasterPain]

Bullied kids commit suicide on occasion. You may have saved a life.

[Zaine]

I have a hard time saying that you were wrong. Yes, it probably would have been better to bring it to the attention of a teacher or school official, but if a former student of mine had done that, I would have explained to them how there were better ways of handling that, but there probably wouldn't be any further repercussions.

[yamesu]

Bullied kids commit suicide on occasion. You may have saved a life.

Very true.

On the flipside - once you reach an adult age, this kind of physical and violent response to a threat can land you in court... I would have a hard time seeing self defence in a scenario like this.

In saying that - I would probably have done the same thing when i was at school. I agree that there are few things worse than a bully.

[bushido_man96]

I don't think you should feel bad about doing something like this. Not at all. Sometimes, people need put in their place, and if it means eating some consequences along the way, then so be it. If its worth while to you, then I don't think you should get too worked up over it.

[GeoGiant]

Interesting topic. For me at least, I recognize that doing the right thing, may at times, as in your story, have negative consequences and I'm willing to accept that.

[Kodakmint]

You did nothing wrong

[shadowspawn]

I used to do something similar. Well not really. What I'd ultimately end up doing is "bullying the bully". Technically it is fighting fire with fire. It was often interesting to see their responses as I was always the smaller guy. Still it worked for the most part and whenever I was around nothing really happened. Luckily I never had to get into an actual fight doing this (whether they were scared of me or just getting into a fight, IDK) and I did earn a reputation as a bit of a "tough guy" despite the fact that the furthest I ever went was a simple shove to get one guy's attention.