The bullies are the easiest to lick. When you were young, you might have found yourself in a situation where some bullies tried to bully you out of an opportunity. Abraham found himself too in that situation and all his life as a politician, he had been bullied one way or the other. He had learnt through experience that the bullies that he feared were often so easy to “lick” meaning to pull down.
Bullies might have bullied him out of winning legislative positions but through those experiences, it helped him develop his poise and determination to win the presidential election that he ran. He told himself “Though those bullies might have bullied me out of previous elections in the past, this time around, I will suck them off.”
Whenever one tries to make headway, there are persons that stand and say, “Where are you going to?” they feel they have a right to stop you and think they own you. We call these persons bullies. Abraham Lincoln observed that though he had managed to get on top of those persons by becoming the president of the country, his son will have to face the same challenge. He told the teacher, “see man those guys up there with big shoulders and fat faces, man you can wink them off their strength. They actually have no strength. Let my son know that.”
Abraham Lincoln knew in his absence, his son will have to face those bullies at school and then through the ladder of life, there would be many bullies. He had better know now that he could challenge the bullies, so that when he does have to face them, he could be strong against them, Abraham would have whispered to the teacher.
At school, home and around the community, there are bullies. They often pose as supermen and untouchable. At school, big sized children often tend to intimidate pint sized peers. They often tend to use their size to their advantage. Teachers should try as much as possible to watch out for such troublemakers and caution them. Teachers have to take necessary action against such wards before they become nuisance to the school and society.
While teachers should not support fist throws in class and elsewhere, students should be encourage to report any case of abuse or intimidation by fellow classmates. Parents are also to report cases of intimidation to school authorities as well as parents of wards who engage in such acts before taking any other action.
Bullies could also refer to any challenge. There are challenges that often try to bully us out of our right senses. We sometimes think we should find ourselves under the locker and hope that the challenges would disappear before our eyes. Children too have challenges, which they feel powerless against. Just as Abraham words depicts, those “bullistic” challenges are easy to lick. You can come out from those challenges and surmount them.
Abraham Lincoln knew that all the bullies were just challenges he had to surmount and he got over them. His words are that he could get over his bullies and you too can get over yours
Teachers are to teach their wards that the strength they have inside them is not for bullying their classmates but for challenging the challenges at school. Parents are as well to encourage their wards on the need to see any challenge they are facing, as the little encumbrance they must overcome to achieve the success they so much want to have.
Students need to know that if they are to pull through their challenges, they would have to rise to the challenge and garner a capacity to challenge their storm.
Parents are to help their wards develop virtues of perseverance and temperance, virtues they need to challenge the odds of their lives. They should know that though a challenge may be on their path, if they can fight on, they can win and will win.
No bullies are insurmountable. They often pose to be mountains but indeed, they are just valleys waiting to be licked by that young chap who will persevere. It may not be so easy, but if you try, you sure will get over them. Do not mind their intimidating look and presence. Once you decide to challenge them, you would see them fold in to themselves before long.