Were you bullied as a child, Valarie?
There was an attempt by contemporaries and two school teachers to force me to comply with their rule at about age 11. The head master was a tyrant, they are still talking about him years after leaving, he died ages ago.
I went along with it until I could read enough and bought a book on human anatomy for military unarmed combat, It was a British publication but was also intended for allied military. For example when a combatant runs out of ammo or has no other weapon. etc. My granny help me with the big words and we had a dictionary.
It showed the structure of the head and the jaw bone where it connected with the skull. It showed how to assess the opponents head by sight because one side is weaker than the other and how to throw a few fake blows to the middle body to divert his attention. The jaw bone will impact part of the brain when struck at the best angle with the correct force. If done by a strong man properly, the opponent would die on the spot. How to identify your best striking hand. It was my right one. Most others are more vulnerable on the left side of their jaw. It corresponded. So when ready I picked my timing and fights. Remember the master was a tyrant too, an ex alco but a great teacher of maths, English Gaelige and geography.
It also showed how to catch an opponents leg when he drew the boot, then he was open to a blow on the jaw.
It worked real good and some would be knocked out and some would be shaken and feck off. My knuckles would be damaged and swell, but I carried aspros.. One day in class we were doing an introductory lesson about English literature (just a few authors like Becket, Joyce and Hemmingway, short stories etc. no study, just a round up, the time the writers lived and where, Kavanagh got a mention in also).
He asked if any of us ever read a book, most replied children's book they got of Santy. I told them about my book for which I paid 2 shillings and 4 pence from a newspaper add, a lot back then. I told them I could kill any man with one blow, but if he was lucky he would be knocked out and recover. There was another system where you caught them by their labels and fell back and threw them over your head. I tried that once but a boy fell on a concrete wall and was hurt. After I half knocked out two of the worst bullies, word got around and they left me alone. I continued to defend other quiet boys who were being bullied. I spared the Master because I was coming near to leaving for secondary school and because I wanted to learn more from him. When I left, I met him one Halloween night and challenged him, he backed off and hid inside the school. The thing is I never divulged how to use this training in a fight. I kept it a strict secret and in fact told them lies. I refused to tell them the name of the book and there was no internet then. That was crucial, keep the mouth shut.
They all knew I could wallop any three of them, but they could not find out how to do it from me. When I would hit them on the jaw properly, you could hear a crack. I practiced it by applying it. So yes, there was an attempt to bully me. I had a sense of fair play and was not a bully. That is how I dealt with it. I really enjoyed it.
I am very sorry for the long post, I cant tell it shorter, sorry again.
I loved school then and ended up in a secondary
vocational school where most of the time was war. There was a religious mission and a big bully thug fired a catapult from behind and called my name so to get me in the eye during the break. . It failed and I gave him one blow. Nothing happened much and we finished the sandwiches. Then there was a Mass in the gym hall and we were all kneeling down playing with the missioners. The school chaplain was making sure we behaved. Next thing your man (thug) fainted and fell forward. I started to laugh and could not stop. It was in the book about delayed shock. Amazing. The clergy were vexed but did not know it was me hit him. The chaplain went mad and thought he fainted from fear of God.