Schoolyard Bullies

The last two fights I had each ended with one punch. In all honesty, I wasn’t much of a fighter. In fact, I hated the entire process of fighting in Middle School. Back then the cool thing for guys to do to showcase their manhood to their peers was to pick a fight. I never adopted that thought process. But my father taught me something at an early age about fighting: “Avoid fighting unless fighting is your last resort. But if you are forced to fight, WIN.” I think I may have in my lifetime been in a total of 4. The last 2 were with friends. I won them both.

Here is my problem with the past and current culture of “schoolyard fighting:” the bullies never really want to fight — they want to bully. Maybe consciously, maybe subconsciously, whatever they want they want to be a product of their bullying. They really don’t want to fight. They’d rather “intimidate” a win from their opponent.

Both of my last two fights were with friends that tried to bully me. They acted tough, taunted me, dared me, made fun of me, and made my life miserable. I was embarrassed as I saw fellow students laugh at me, call me “Chicken,” in some way wanting to see me fight — hoping to see me fight. In both cases I finally had enough. Both confrontations with those bullies were quick and final: one punch — one in the jaw and one in the nose. There was a lot of blood and some real crying. But their bullying ended quickly.

Historically we Americans have seen a lot of bullying: Hirohito, Hitler, Kruzchev, Castro, Qadafi, Sadam Hussein, and others. In every “bullying” incident with these, the United States took a simple position and held to it: right is right, we support what is right, we will do what is right, and we will NOT be intimidated by anyone to do anything other than what is right. Several of the instances pertaining to those above ended in war — even World War. A couple of others saw the bully back down, but not until confrontation took place. Face it: most bullies are egotistical, self centered, have a God complex, and are certain they are above the law — ANY law. They all want their way in everything, and usually get it. World literature is full of award winning stories of underdogs that, when confronted by a bully, find a way to stand up to that bully for what is right. Often taking that stand has not been popular, has not seemed like a good idea at the time, has cost people jobs, relationships, political standing, and sometimes financial ruin. But seldom does the bully win in the end. Usually bullies get what they prayed they would avoid receiving: a good whipping.

A good example is the story of Goliath. Little David saw Goliath walking back and forth on a riverbank threatening the army of Israel. None from Israel would answer Goliath’s threat to mix it up with the bully. Their fear and hesitance infuriated the young shepherd who volunteered to King Saul to take the Philistine Goliath out. Saul snickered at first, then realized David was sincere. The irony here was King Saul was a well known warrior, but even he had allowed Goliath’s bullying tactics to work, keeping even the King away! Saul let David confront Goliath! The rest is history: the bully was confronted, done away with, and righteousness prevailed.

There is a bully in the neighborhood. His name is Kim Jong-un — the North Korean leader. Kim, his father, and his father’s father all walked to and fro through the gatherings of other world leaders and have threatened their unilateral nuclear attacks on their “enemies” since the Bill Clinton Administration. Clinton, Bush, and then Obama all allowed Kim Jong-un and his father to pretty much have it their way. All threatened the Korean dictator, trying to scare him away from his nuclear program. Even the United Nations stepped in to help. Kim made hollow promises that he never intended to keep and indeed did not, and just kept developing nuclear warheads. Clinton, Bush, and even Obama blustered at the dictator and basically told him, “Don’t make us come back there. You’ll regret the results!” What results? Kim has kept building and is now ready to lob a couple of nukes at Japan, Guam, and now even has ICBM capability to nuke the U.S. Year after year, those on the political Left and Right in the U.S. have pushed for and carried out diplomatic discussions with Kim to try and slow down if not eliminate North Korea’s nuclear program — to no avail.

Enter President Trump. He’s a New York negotiator. No surprise that he began “selling” Kim on the fact that Kim should fall in line to this “promise” from Trump: “Don’t make me come back there!” With that paraphrased initial warning from Trump, “Pajama Boy” began to unfold his bullying threats that have always worked before on World leaders, including previous U.S. Presidents. Not so with President Trump. For every barb launched by Kim at Trump, the President threw one back that had a little more oomph.

This process has driven politicians from both sides of the aisle AND the American press crazy! I could quote numerous Senators, Congressmen and Women, and just about every news anchor and newspaper reporter as they all blast the President for seemingly abandoning diplomacy while ratcheting up the inevitability of nuclear war. But wiser minds have stepped in to “call off the dogs.” It seems according to numerous intelligence sources that North Korea’s readiness to launch a nuclear attack on anyone is not nearly as advanced as they would like the U.S. to believe. Further, the United States has numerous lines of defense for stopping such an attack if launched — some known to the public and options whose details are unknown to the public — which, according to military and nuclear experts, would be sufficient to prevent an attack on the U.S. from succeeding.

The facts regarding diplomacy with North Korea are in: diplomacy has worked only to allow the dictator to continue to steal money to be used for food for his starving citizens and to re-direct that money to his growing nuclear military program, in spite of his regular commitments to the UN and others to shut it down. Diplomacy has not worked.

President Trump took office and quickly took a stand against North Korea’s nuclear program and put Pajama Boy on notice. The President has not blinked. The bully in Asia keeps getting louder, louder, and louder and louder. He keeps waiting and expects THIS President to act like the last one, and the one before him, and the one before him, and back down just as they all did. Kim Jong-un is besides himself as he watches the New York tough guy refuse to blink when the bully just jacks up his threats.

I don’t think Pajama Boy is stupid. I think he’s a spoiled rotten brat who is the only overweight North Korean. He always gets his way. Donald Trump is certainly not the first or only President to tell North Korean leaders that if they continue their nuclear proliferation there is a horrendous price to pay for doing so. But he’s the first and only U.S. President that Kim is pretty sure will keep his word.

Unlike me I’m fairly certain President Trump has been in more than 4 fights in his life. I’m pretty sure he learned how to fight and win at a young age. And I’m pretty sure he’s come away from most of those fights beating the bullies he’s faced. Though the bell has not yet sounded for this fight, when that bell rings “if” it rings, I’m pretty sure President Trump will be the fighter standing at the end of the 10-count — “If” that bell ever rings. And I’m not so sure it ever will. But if it does, won’t it be nice to have someone in the ring representing us that actually knows how to fight to win and will?