Please Melania, Vanquish Bullying

        I witnessed bullying, rather extreme bullying when I was in Junior High School...by a "fireplug" of a kid, who was my age but one year behind in school. Unknowingly, I sat next to his girlfriend in Study Hall. She asked me what I thought of 'RK' one day while we were supposed to be studying. He's a prick, was my answer. I told her that I witnessed him picking on a "special needs" kid in gym class and I was sorry I didn't step in and stop him. That was the end of our conversation...we went back to studying.
        The very next day, 'RK' challenged me to an after-school fight...sure enough, events unfolded quickly and two days later we were squaring off on the school football field. 'RK' was stocky. a wanna-be football team running back. I was taller but "lanky"and had no interest in making the Northern Huskies football team.
       Most in attendance, yes, we had spectators, I was sure, were betting on 'RK'. He didn't have the grades to make the football team and he knew it. He was angry and his brother had just shipped off to Vietnam...  (I found out later.)
       "No weapons, just fists." My step-father watched from his Studebaker pick-up truck. We exchanged a couple of loud and impressive blows to the face, mostly the foreheads. I moved in quickly and put him in a headlock, which I was determined to maintain..I pushed his face down in the dirt a few times. Surprisingly, he said, "That's it, I'm done." Which surprised me to no end...I let go and sure enough, he stood up and walked away. He seemed to be sobbing as I watched him walk under the goalposts.
       We didn't finish our last four years of school as friends but, we did talk a few times, no hard feelings. I had a few extra 'friends' after that and I was never called into the office for an explanation or discipline. It turned out that I wasn't the only one who'd witnessed him bullying "the slow kid".  Mr. Warner, our P.E. teacher watched a couple of these bullying incidents and he hadn't done anything about it either. He told me a couple of years later while our class was immersed in a "boxing unit", "I've seen you box, you tagged 'RK' pretty good back in ninth grade." Really? I had no idea that there was a teacher watching our skirmish. I hated bullys then and I detest bullys and bullying now. I'm rooting for you Melania.