...When All is Said and Dunn

Every decade seems to get a name. Whether it was the “Roaring Twenties” or “The Me, We, or Us Decades” we always feel the need to label that ten years so we can, I guess, remember it later on. I know it is a little early in this one to give it a name. But at this point, unless something drastically changes, I am humbly offering my submission: “The Bully Decade”.

I know every decade has its share of bullies. We all grew up having at least one in our class, school, or neighborhood. They were a presence that was always there, but with a little caution, could be avoided.

Nowadays that is not the case. Every time I turn around, I either have to deal with one, hear about one, or watch one in action. It has become a choice of action that happens so often that most people just accept it as the norm and think nothing of it. They accept it as either the person is being rude, or in some instances, just being assertive.

There is a lot of difference between someone who is being assertive and someone who is attempting to talk over you at a borderline yell. There is a difference between someone who is just plain rude and someone whose demeanor is menacing and gives you the impression that if you don’t do what they are suggesting that something worse is going to happen.

The bullies that travel in packs are the worst and are the most dangerous, not only to you physically but to your psyche as well. When talking about street gangs, you need to think about the potential physical danger from these bullies, they carry knives and guns and will use them. When you’re talking about groups of say 3 or 4 classless thugs coming into a meeting to dominate by talking loudly and interrupting everyone in the room, you are talking about a mini-gang of parent bullies. They are out to destroy the hard work of an entire group to further their own personal agendas.

There are other forms of bullying that are a little subtler and come off as just being irritating. For example, the way that the City of Temple City is being devoured by the bridal industry as its City Council sits idly by and lets it happen. Every time a piece of property becomes available in downtown Temple City, it is snatched up and turned into another bridal shop or a business associated to it. Despite the community outcry and groans of displeasure, every time another one appears, the apparently powerless city government watches as these bridal bullies take over the Downtown area.

Again, in Temple City, the mansionisation of the City has gotten out of control. The builders have run roughshod over the planning commission of the city. I was under the impression that there was to be restrictions or some type of moratorium on the size of the houses that were to be built. But it seems like every time I turn around another one of these out-of-place, cheaply built, expensive-looking eyesores is going up.

When are the elected officials of this City going to step up and do something positive for the community instead of sitting on their laurels waiting for their lame duck term to end. By the way, when is the next election?

Then you have those individuals who desperately want to bully you, but despite all their best efforts can’t. They either don’t have the look, the presence, or the position to intimidate you, but God knows they try. I actually had someone behind the counter at a donut shop try to bully me into ordering my donuts faster. I’m sorry, but that is something that does not rank high on the importance scale that warrants being bullied about. Did she really think she was going to make me order any faster by taking a forceful approach? Uh, I don’t think so. Get a grip, you sell donuts, not plutonium or gold.

So to those of you out there that think you can bully the rest of us by puffing up your chests and talking over us, you are wrong. A lot of us are not the lambs that you think we are and you can put away your mint jelly. I for one plan to make a stand to not let you dominate our world. Your day will come. What goes around comes around. It’s all about Karma, and if you have wronged or bullied others in the past then eventually you will get what you deserve.

If you are one of those bulliers now, be prepared. Soon it will be bully for us.