Bullies
A note to my readers: This article was written several days before the Virginia Tech massacre. Several news reports have stated that the shooter was bullied throughout his elementary school years. Obviously, that is not an excuse. But it certainly is worth thinking about. Several years ago, when my son was in 7th grade, he had an encounter with an internet bully. His classmate, who was somewhat of a computer whiz, had developed his own web page long before “My Space” had become popular. In addition to making unflattering remarks, he enjoyed posting unflattering pictures of his fellow students on his site, much to the delight of those who weren’t the object of his scrutiny, and to the chagrin of those who were. My son was among the latter. A confrontation finally developed in school. One thing led to another, and my son deposited this “Bill Gates” wannabe into a school locker. Within short order, I got a telephone call at work asking me to go the school immediately, and informing me my...