bullying is huge problem in schools ...again. and no longer is it the golden age of a father sitting his son down and giving him the old, "you know how you handle a bully, son? you punch him right in the nose!" and the kid heads out into a certain beating of a lifetime - but learns an important lesson about standing up for himself. i suppose girls have some version of this as well, but i'm not all that familiar with the intricate details. but for boys, that's how it has gone for years. "punch 'em in the nose". i was stopped on the sidewalk recently by a non-profit group raising money for bully prevention purposes. which is stupid. raising funds to send a motivational speaker to a school to share with kids a moving story about being bullied is nonsense. when that person gets to their moving closer about sticks and stones and such - the kids are usually choking back giggles, and learning nothing about bullying. other than sometimes it is funny. raising money to pay teachers a little more would be a better place to start. if they have under 40 kids in the class, it might make it easier for them to keep an eye on the husky kid getting his ear flicked in the back of the classroom. and how can we raise money to counter childhood obesity and also bullying? don't they cancel each other out a bit? and why do we only show the tragic side of bullying on tv? if we showed more stories where the victim ate some vegetables, did some pushups, and then pummeled the crap out of the bully - kids would catch on.