I don’t start fights, but if I get punched first, I will punch back harder to defend myself.

If someone calls me names, I’ll verbally humiliate him in public.

The whole world is against me. Everyone picks on me more than others—the world is not fair to me. No one will respect me if I don’t get them back.

These statements that justify bullying should be from a bygone era, when norms about retaliation were different than today. Some of our current politicians were likely educated to think and behave this way. By contrast, few, if any, preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school teachers or administrators in the U.S. would now accept these types of justifications from a student for bullying. In fact, in today’s schools, students are actively taught communication skills, social emotional learning skills, and supportive bystander procedures so they can effectively and positively work through conflicts without retribution.

Read more at Huffington Post.