Is it Bullying If There’s Consent?
Or, WTF is with teenaged boys??
TL;DR version: It’s obvious that I don’t understand teenaged boys at all.
Sometimes I imagine potential scenarios and wonder how I’d handle them, what I’d say, and whether I’d do the right thing. It’s easy to think you’d say or do one thing, and then improvise on the scene or freeze up. Fight or flight?
Group violence?
Earlier, while walking with my dog, I saw three teenaged boys kicking another boy on the ground about a half block ahead. My immediate thought: “Why is no one seeing this or stepping in??”
We were on a major street. The boys were right outside a corner store, a few feet from the corner.
My eyes and brain were perceiving that a teenaged boy was having the crap kicked out of him by bullies. I’m guessing that you’d reach the same conclusion.
Around a half block away, I shouted, “Hey! HEY!”
They stopped. The boy receiving the kicks popped up on his feet, WITH A SMILE, after which I may have seen one more punch to his face (I wasn’t sure from the angle).
What the hell is wrong with teenage boys?
One of the boys answered, “We’re giving birthday beatings.”
