When the bully won’t quit bullying, where are the adults?
A group of boys were playing ball in an open field. Give or take, they’re about 6-7 years old. Another group of older, bigger boys came along and, not satisfied with just watching the smaller kids play, snatched the ball at one point and sent the little boys away.
As it wasn’t dark yet, the smaller boys resisted to call the day off and go home, but instead decided to fetch another ball and play with it on a smaller area next to where the older boys are now playing. The big boys yelled at the little boys and told them to go play somewhere else, but the little boys said they had nowhere else to go. Being classic-case bullies, the older boys eventually went ahead and played while continuing to harass the little boys, intimidate them and leave them with impossibly less and less area to play on.
At one point, the little boys drew enough courage and just dribbled away the ball across the larger area. The big boys were incensed at the sight and resorted to beating the little boys severely. But this just angered the little boys even more. Afterward, the little boys would go and challenge the big boys from time to time, and with increasing fervor each time they did it.
Eventually, the big boys came to the little boys and said to them, “Okay, we’ve had it with you midgets. You’re just not going away aren’t you? Well we’ll give you more space to play whatever you want and we’ll even leave you alone. But we’re going to take your ball so you can’t meddle with our game anymore.” And off the big boys went.
With the ball taken away from them, the little boys wanted to go and get another ball. But one of the big boys came to them and said, “No way, you’re not getting another ball. You’re just going to get in our way again.” So the little boys just had to stay in the field and watch the older boys play while holding their grudge.
But with nothing to play with, one of the little boys just couldn’t take it and started throwing some little stones at the big boys. Some of the other little boys, knowing well that they would incur the wrath of the big boys, stopped the stone-thrower, reproved him and said that they should do what the big boys want and cooperate. The other ones didn’t say anything but silently sympathized with the stone-thrower, and from time to time they would pick up little rocks, mud, whatever they could get their hands on and throw them at the big boys, until finally the big boys just couldn’t take it anymore and together they attacked the little kids brutally.
Now, if you look at these pictures, can you tell which ones are the bigger boys and which are the little boys?
Normally we expect an adult to come along and break the whole thing up. But what happens when the designated adult is siding with the big boys?
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