IN DEFENSE

I was bullied on a regular basis pretty much from second grade on up through high school. In fact, my neighbor's brother, a high school wrestler, taught me some take downs and my dad taught me how to fight at a very young age because I needed to defend myself. In fourth grade some kids were throwing firecrackers around and I snitched. Oh well. I was scared and 10 years old. The next day four boys from the grade above mine beat the crap out of me. I managed to get some shots in and not cry until I was about a block away, but it set the tone for high school. I was bullied a lot in high school. As a result, I hung out with people that weren't from my town. That constituted more harassment. One time a couple of guys, while we were in the smoking section, threatened me and did some physical stuff to me (won't go into it--think human wishbone). They threatened my friends from the other town, too. What happened? When the guys from my town chickened out at meeting the other guys from the other town at "the mall," one of the guys came down to take on my school. Our cops gave him an escort to the town line. (I am leaving out some details for brevity, but I was quite the outcast.)

So anyway, I just had all those flashbacks when I saw this clip. My cousin's cousin (other side of her family) is a brown belt in judo. She was so bad-ass that her husband, a MARINE, wouldn't mess with her. She ruled that roost. Heh. Maybe I should have taken some judo lessons.