I’ve read much on the heroics of confronting bulliess recently, that too has a dark side…

[Iris]

5. That sucks. You did the best you could. There are other ways

and I'm hoping the current anti-bullying trend will help young people figure this out. You were left to defend your brother on your own. I think the best way to combat bullying is to empower other kids to make it unacceptable.

When I was in high school, there was a rich kid, kind of like Mitt Romney, that I remember picking on a mentally disabled kid who was in my brother's class - 2 years younger than us. It didn't go over well with my brother and several of his friends, who were all football players. They basically told Richey Rich that that behavior wasn't acceptable. No violence occurred, although, I guess it was implied. At any rate, it wasn't necessary b/c Richey Rich knew he was outnumbered. And that's how these battles get won throughout life - by people standing up and saying something is unacceptable.