KEYS TO BEING UN-NSULTABLE

How do you handle being insulted, criticized, or bullied? I’ll start with a story. It happened when I was in middle school. Being shy, I sat near the back of the room. A much taller kid was sitting next to me. He started taunting me with the words, Your mother sleeps around. See that girl over there? She thinks you are a turd.

After a while, I started shaking, which got worse when I noticed the kids near me had heard him. After ten minutes of taunts, I was still shaking. Without thinking, I hit him with my right fist. It was a loud noise, and the teacher ignored it. A few seconds later, he hit me back, and that was the end. He never bothered me again. As I walked out of the classroom, the kids applauded me. That happened over 60 years ago. Yet, I gave that kid the power to provoke me.

Despite the approval of my classmates, my behavior was wrong! Yet, at that age, I did not know it was possible to feel un-insultable and maintain a calm-alert state. I had a lot to learn [2].