I was always on the periphery of the mean girls in grade school and junior high, and they would occasionally target me and publicly embarrass me, but I don't consider it actual bullying because it wasn't all the time, what I felt was targeted. Thinking back on it, I can see how they felt weak and insecure, and empowered themselves by being cruel. The worst of them ended up marrying a wealthy guy and she owned a Massage Envy franchise, I hadn't had contact with her in close to twenty years, but I instinctively felt so sorry for her employees. I could tell she hadn't changed because I checked out her Facebook, and she had pictures with her husband and kids. Her daughter, the way she smiled...I could tell she was being raised to be just as much of a stuck-up entitled shit as her mother was. I feel sorry for that kid's peer victims.
My mother definitely bullied me. She's only like that with me, and sometimes with my father. She herself was bullied by her cousins who were mean girls and was very hurt by it. She has no idea that she's a bully or an abuser, but there are a lot of things she has no idea of about herself. She wants and expects pity but has no empathy, and gets mean when she doesn't get pity. I think she gets triggered by a need for empathy, especially in those closest to her. It's interesting, we always had dogs, and she loved best the ones that were docile. The one that had an attitude and couldn't be completely controlled, was super smart, had epilepsy, and when she would whine, my mother wouldn't give her empathy, she called her a ninny. She's also a racist and doesn't see it.
