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I was bullied a lot for many years.
Face smashed into the locker from behind when I wasn't looking, garbage thrown at me in the lunchroom, that sort of thing.
Once I was even beaten up in front of the entire lunch crowd (several hundred people) with all my friends right there. None of them lifted a finger to help me either. Thanks, guys!
I had made fun of the guy the previous day in class for saying something really stupid and made everyone laugh. He wasn't too happy about it, apparently. We were both suspended. Funny thing was, I didn't even hit him back (though every instinct I had was screaming "KILL KILL," I was raised by pacifist hippies and just tried my best to keep him off me). I was suspended for being "involved in a fight" and "provoking him." I never understood why this guy and all his friends could physically abuse me on a near-daily basis and not "provoke" me into fighting, but my mere words could "provoke" him into violence over 24 hours later.
I pretty much gave up on pacifism after that. I could have saved my own dignity and satisfied my urge to pummel the guy and wound up with exactly the same result. Had I known I would be suspended either way, I surely would have behaved differently.
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