The road from bystander to leader takes time…

Yesterday I watched as the owner of my neighborhood 7-11 verbally abused and berated a woman who happened to park in a way that was unacceptable to him. She did nothing wrong, there were simply not enough spaces and she improvised, but he was relentless and it went on for several minutes. I was across the street by the time I figured out what was happening and just stood there paralyzed. I realized as I got into my car that I was acting the ‘bystander’ to an act of bullying and I specialize in bullying – so how could this happen to me? It is hard to change from being a bystander to a leader when confronted with bullying. It takes practice and even though you KNOW the research and statistics and what to do. When faced with brutality, you are also confronting the indirect trauma of witnessing it. I will remember this incident and do better next time and the next time and the next until I respond without thinking. “Stop your bullying because it is wrong and it won’t solve your problem” I hope you will too