Lisa Alekna:  

We moved around a lot when I was a kid; by the time we got to Massachusetts, halfway thru 6th grade, I was used to being the perpetual new kid. I wanted to believe that most people were decent, that most people were kind, that given half a chance, most people would do the right thing. I ran into bullies everywhere I went. I also ran into a lot of really great people - kids and adults - who wouldn't stand for the cruelty and tiny mindedness of the bullies. I learned that kindness can be found in people that seem stern - teachers that were my worst nightmare - Mrs. Klema in 4th grade math - was absolutely wonderful the year she became my homeroom teacher! And she taught me how to crochet - a skill I retain to this day. Mr. Wilson, who I swore I was going to make smile by the end of freshman year, forbidding and stern - loved to read fantasy and sci/fi, and loved to talk about it too, if you gave him half a chance! He taught me to "write for the guy who wasn't there" - a skill that served me well for years, and earned me praise from many employers. My mother always told me to ignore the bullies - she would say that they'd get tired of it all, and go away. I think that she must have been blessed, because bullies don't go away when you ignore them - they get encouraged, they breed, they get stronger when they think they have a defenseless victim... I made some of the best friends of my life, despite the bullies. I remember the first year or two of being "the new kid" - how hard it was... one girl was "assigned" to me to be my "buddy" - and I could tell how much of a pain it was to her to have this kid saddled to her side. I felt bad about that. I felt like telling her, "hey, just show me where the basic stuff is, and then get lost" - the bullies made it hard. No one wants to reach out to someone if they're going to end up also being a target. But I hated meanness, I hated it when they teased other kids. Bad enough when they went after me - but I couldn't stand it when they went after someone else. And there was no reason for any of it - just pure spite. I did what I could. Just "do unto others", I guess. I started feeling like a "counter terrorist" - or maybe a "counter-bully" - if there is such a thing - just by applying the Golden Rule. For more than a decade the school district he...Expand for more