Didn't they tell us to "get over it" in 2000?

[BlueCaliDem]

25. Dial it down, sib.

You don't know anything about me. NADA. I, an Asian-American female, grew up in a volatile African-American, low-income suburb of California in the 1970's, during the rise of Black Power, violent monthly riots, and rumors that Nixon wanted to round up all the Blacks and send them back to Africa which exacerbated an already volatile situation. Don't tell me I don't know the difference between being bullied and finding myself in a confrontation. Don't think you're oh, so special or oh so wise when it comes to being the victim of bullying, 'k?

I got beaten up each and every morning on the way to school by my neighborhood "bad girls", and sometimes, if I was lucky enough that the weather wasn't too hot, or raining, or I wasn't too tired, I could run ahead home after school before everyone else was out and only get surrounded and beaten up a couple of times a week. Did I back down? HELL NO. I got pummeled, yeah, lost lots of hair (bushels) and got almost all my clothes torn, but eventually, when they see you refuse to bow, either they leave you alone OR you'd find a guy who would be your champion, and guess how that worked out for me? That's right. An African-American guy stood up for me and I was never messed with again until we moved out of the country to pacifist Holland where a whole different type of bullying resumed.

So yeah, I know the difference between bullying and schoolyard confrontations, and using the past, I won't allow myself to get bullied again.