Many people think more about psychological trauma left off by bullying in adolescents than the advantages of experiencing it. The experience can help to give you a better understanding of the issue.

I want to preface my stance on bullying by saying that I do not support bullying of any kind. I have been bullied. I was pushed into lockers and was laughed at for my big feet. After I caught on, I began to make fun of myself, too. I was being laughed with. I then found myself building relationships with these people. Bullying, to a degree, is overall beneficial to thicken skin and to help solve conflicts in the future.

To start, many who are bullied think of how to end it. Nancy Prisby, social worker and parenting coach, was interviewed by the New York Times. She said, “when children are allowed to feel emotional pain while we are available as parents to support and teach them, they become more resilient.” If you’ve never been called names before, when you are on your own, you may not know how to handle it.

Next, bullies have health benefits over those who are not bullies. According to Alice Park, Time Magazine contributor, a man named Copeland and his colleagues used a database of 1420 students, that were tested for C-Reactive Protein (CRP) over the time of their experience with bullying. CRP is a good indicator of inflammation levels and is an important predictor for heart disease. They found that bullies experienced significantly low rates of inflammation, and therefore are less likely to be at risk of inflammatory diseases.

People argue all the time that bullying can lead to things like suicide and depression. A study by Yale University says that bully victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide. If we support people through it and teach them how to deal with it, then we can lower that number without stripping the people of their rights. In lieu of fighting bullies, we could support the bullied. This would be a solution that does not involve the passing of any laws, or stripping the people of their rights.

Bullying is wrong, there is no denying that, but you can not police everyone. What are you going to do, make bullying illegal? Flag them on Facebook? We cannot control people and we certainly are not going to sway everyone to think the way you or I do. Instead of policing the actions of everyone, why not help to teach people how to deal with these things?