I have never seen it fail; from as far back as when I attended elementary school right up until the time that I was in high school, that there was always a smaller group of bullies that terrorized an exponentially larger group of students. And how did they do it? Well, to be honest, they rarely ever put their hands on any of us.
However, it was that threatening and menacing behavior, coupled with that stare and that bad boy swagger when they walked up to or past you. And most of the time, but not all of the time, they were either of larger stature or all buffed out.
And despite the fact that they were few in number, and 5 of us together should have been able to deal with them, even when we outnumbered them 2 or 300 to 1, we would do everything that we could to avoid the bullies, to include taking a different route to school... See, you never wanted to be corned by them; evasive action was a more palpable alternative.
Rule #2, you never looked a bully in the eye given that to do so could, as you have already imagined, have dire consequences.
Typically, there were only 4 or 5 of them,I repeat only 4 or 5 of them at most, in the entire school, well, that was the case back in ‘my day’, I understand that practically every student that attends publics schools today behaves like a bully or a gangsta.
I can recall when I was in the 7th or 8th grade, that the terrorizing group then was a family that relocated to Akron Ohio from Cleveland. Their surnames were ‘Shropshire’, they were known around the school as
‘the Shropshires’.Man,you should have seen these dark, buffed-out bigger than anyone else in the school bullies from Cleveland Ohio.
Okay, I can say it because I am black, for the fact of the matter is that the darker the hue, the more humans including blacks tends to be afraid of you. Dark bullies then, were the most frightening of them all, and we had some dark bullies to contend with especially ‘the Shropshires’.
Even the bullies who preceded them, most of whom we knew from kindergarten got out of the way when the Shropshires walked the halls. I don’t usually swear, but I swear one day we were all intrigued because one of the Shropshire boys was carrying a book in his hand. Wow we thought, what was he doing with a book?
This guy looked just like the lead bully in the Hit Movie, “House Party” when he was in the 8th grade. He even wore cut off shirts to show his muscles during the summertime, and suffice it to say, ‘he had big guns’! I still can’t figure it out even today, what was he doing with a book? Well that is unless he was practicing reading prior to going to jail, for that was certainly where he was headed as far as I and most of my peers were concerned.
The title of the book that he was reading, or looking at the pictures I suppose was, “Prison Escapes’.
These men among boys, that is what they really were had clearly been held back by 3 or 4 years, something that was not uncommon in the inner-city schools that I attended. It was not unusual for 21 year men to still be in school with us kids during junior and high school. Their facial and body hair was a dead giveaway.
Fortunately, while I was in the eighth grade, our family relocated to the west side, lucky for them or I would have ... Oftentimes, when looking back I wondered how come the majority of students, that I was a part of, were so afraid of a bullying minority? For if we couldn’t beat up one of them by our selves, we could have ganged up on them, or at the very least maintained a modicum of courage.
They (Republicans) Barked and they Growled and The Democratic House has Nearly Fallen Down and that brings me to what I believe is taking place in the American political arena today, wherein the democrats appear to be shaking in their boots and running scared a minority group of bullying Republicans, who have threatened to take their House away from them.
Republicans, in secret, must laugh at the fear that there small minority has been able to instill into the hearts of Democrats for decades now. As has become customary, at least for as far back as I can remember, the tail is still wagging the dog when it comes to the Republican Chihuahuas who instill fear into the Democratic bulldogs, who are typically all bark and no bite. The latter will stand up and bark until confronted, only then will the minority group of Republicans stick their tails between their legs as they hurriedly retreat.
For having said that, one wag of the Republican tail, and the Democratic dogs all run away from what got them where they are. Why has it been this way that historically, I believe that it is because the majority is all too often fearful of a smaller minority, just as we were as kids? And is that due to the fact that bullies, even Republican ones, simply know how to instill fear into the hearts of the non-courageous, simply by swaggering when they walk, utilizing profanities, growing facial hair, and beating up on up on a couple of democrats in a few districts?
They know something that the Democrats apparently do not know, because their tactics seem to work with Democrats every time. The day after President Obama was inaugurated, the Republican barking began, it seemed from every street corner, doghouse and kennel in America up to and including today. Their repeated barking and plaintive wailing, has seemed, however, to reach a crescendo of late. Republican attack dogs, to include their smaller canine friends have been barking on the on the airwaves, at universities, in the streets and anywhere that they can get to, in hopes of frightening Democrats away from the polls during the mid-term elections.
And it would appear that Democrats are about to cave, simply because the Republicans have huffed and puffed, and almost blown the Democratic House down.
And who are these midget bullying canines, who seem to have already succeeded by instilling fear into their larger group of Democratic voters. On the list are small-time canines like O’Reilly, and other mental midgets named Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Kristol, Palin, Beck ... and you can toss in a few members of the clergy too.
Some of these barking clerical puppies, minions of the Republican Right, utilize their pulpits, holy water, communion and the name of Jesus to bark from the top of the doghouse, their pulpits, whenever and wherever they get the chance.
I am as embarrassed for the Democratic Party as I am for myself, when reflecting back on the days when I permitted myself to be threatened merely by the threat of a bully coward. I am ashamed to admit that I was afraid of the bullies that were at Goodyear Junior High School in Akron Ohio.
The democrats could learn something form a true story that I am about to tell - I know that being there to witness what I am about to tell, taught me a lot. I won’t mention the name of the bully, who at the time wreaked havoc on many students at our elementary school, until one day someone stood up to him. Up until then, he went for bad everyday.
One day, I was walking home with this bully, because frankly I didn’t believe that I had a choice in the matter, whether to walk with him or not. He said, come on and away we went day after until one day, a young lad named Eddie, walked straight up to my bullying friend, and without warning began pummeling him with his fists.
Mohammed Ali would have envied Eddie, for the phrase that was often employed when someone when someone really beat his opponent up, Eddie, ‘beat the mess out of the bully”, In fact, the dark bully, who was mostly red by the time the massacre was over never got off one punch.
Instead, the school bully at that time, suddenly looked away from his pummeling over in my direction and shouted, “go and get my sister”! Go and get your sister I thought, when are you to begin the frazzle dazzle, bobbing and weaving or even jabbing, or how about the rope a dope? It turned out that the bully, I and the rest our student body were dopes, for the bully turned out to be all bluster.
So what ever happened to the bully? I heard that he was later gunned down when he confronted a man about his wife, apparently he did not learn anything from the incident with Eddie: someone shot him point blank when he confronted the man about the man's own wife, and he did so in the man's front yard.
Keeping that in mind, that was only 2 years ago that the Democrats were boisterous, proud and confident. What happened? I will tell you what happened, the minority bullies drew back their clenched fists and began to roar, and suddenly once proud Democrats began to shrivel, just as the Republican Chihuahuas knew that they would do, and run away.
Frankly, I didn’t vote for Obama the last time around, because I was sure that he was not seasoned enough to be President, but having said that, I believe as another famous man once said about his favorite son, and I mean that literally, ‘the boy will make you proud if you elect him to be President'.
His favorite son did not make America proud, but I believe that Obama will make America proud, even his critics, this time around. One thing that I believe is certain from hereon, it is that President Obama will fight for what the American people want and need, good leadership at the top. The citizens of the United states need to elect Obama President again, simply by voting for Democrats and Independents in the Mid-Term election.We cannot wait until 2012, for his fate and ours might be sealed by then. I don’t believe that Obama is a novice anymore.
In just about 2 years of his term, he has learned how Washington works, and now he knows to lead. Kudos to him for keeping his campaign promises, particularly in terms of reaching out to Republicans at first, but he seems to have learned of late that the Republicans are never going to work with him or the Democrats in the House and the Senate on any issue. They are the party of 'just say no until we are in power again', and until that time, 'Obama, Democrats and the rest of America and the world for that matter, be damned!
And that is something that is that is significant, and every American ought to recognize, that is that the Republican minority, they will never work to pursue or to fulfill the will of the American majority, a majority that includes a modicum of Republicans supporters, mixed in with Democrats and Independents. I belong to the latter group, and have been an Independent for decades.
Enough about me, but did you get what I said? Republicans neither care about the President, the Speaker of the House nor is the leader of the Senate Harry Reid, what is most significant that they hold the reigns of power. And every time that Republicans have been in power, over the past 40 years or so, America has taken a clear step backwards and a Democrat has to be voted in just in time to right a sinking ship.
So let them bark, and do what Eddie did and ‘beat the mess out of them’ in the next election and all that are to follow, in particular when it comes to enforcing the will of the people as opposed to kowtowing to a pack of miniature lapdogs who happen to have a big bark in comparison with their tiny stature(s)!
And to boot the Democrats with Obama, are better than anything that the current gaggle or gang of Republicans have now or will likely have to offer in the foreseeable future, that can be offered to the majority of the American something that I refer to as patriotism! Their bark is bigger than their bite that is unless the majority of Americans caves in and gives them what the want, Republican party power again.
In conclusion, the darker hued Shropshires that I wrote about earlier, were not of English descent, and neither are the Republicans representatives of the will of the will of the majority of the American people. Just hit them again and again, as was done in the 2008 General Election, by leaving them at home, and the ship will get routed. President Obama will do what the majority of Americans expect from him from now on, for what does he have to loose!
Peace & Grace
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