A theoretical or conceptual approach to the issue of bullying is not proposed here, but rather a practical self-assessment exercise, since many times, adults who intervene in the educational process accept attitudes that make us complicit in this type of violence.

For example, three scenes from real life.

Scene 1

They have just returned from the sports arena and the mother asks her son: "So, show your dad how your little friend jumps in basketball classes."

The child obediently and even amusedly imitates the scene and the father comments with a laugh: "I’ve always said that that little boy is soft."

For each visitor coming home, the burlesque "performance" is repeated. The next day, when his classmate becomes the victim of bullying in the classroom because he "is soft", the mother, father and all the amused visitors will be complicit in the bullying.

Scene 2

«Mommy, we finished the test; imagine that the teacher told us that if we weren’t ashamed that Jane Doe, with the lowest IQ in the classroom, she turned out to have better grades than everyone else," commented a seventh grade student.

No one comes out of this with their self-esteem unscathed, not Jane Doe, not the rest, but she will probably bear the brunt of it, because she is a minority. If it happens, the teacher will undoubtedly be complicit in the bullying.

Scene 3

In the neighborhood, conversation between neighbors, in front of their children:

Neighbor 1: "Thank goodness they quit seeing the easy girlwho lives around the corner."

Neighbor 2: "In my time they would have called her something nasty in high school."

Neighbor 1: "No, they say she is into boys and girls as well."

The little girl in the corner tried to commit suicide. Malicious gossip and adult prejudice made her part of the bullying situations that led her to that level of desperation.

Every word or attitude counts. How many times have we been complicit in bullying, apparently without intending to do so? Which side do we want to be on? May it never be on the side of violence.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff