Dakota Beacon

The latest popular cause célèbre drawing attention of the North Dakota legislature is bullying.

SB 2167, the anti-bullying legislation, handily passed the North Dakota Senate 34 to 11. Now the North Dakota House gets a shot at it.

Once upon a time a father’s responsibilities included teaching his kids to defend themselves. By extension, that carries over to defending their family, their property and ultimately their nation.

Soon, kids may have a law giving the illusion of defending them from pervasive bullying.

My grandfather passed away when Dad was seven. My dad’s older brother, my uncle, served as my dad’s father figure. Now and then Dad would regale me with tales of his pre-teen days when he, his brother and some friends would retreat to an attic on rainy days to learn to box.

Before I proceed, let me be clear. Anecdotal evidence poses the risk of representing the standard or norm with what may be an exception. I’ll take that risk.

However, Dad’s situation went beyond the anecdotal. In his day boxing for sport and self-defense was as common as football is today. Even literary authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, George Bernard Shaw and others offered insight to boxing in their writings. Later, Norman Mailer and Ernest Hemingway portrayed the “science” of artfully and swiftly clobbering the bully. President Teddy Roosevelt boxed in the White House.

I was six or seven when Dad bought me my first pair of boxing gloves. They were so big I could wear them as shoes. No chance of getting hurt.

The biggest challenge to me was not the fine art of holding my guard or moving my feet. My biggest challenge was overcoming an inherent reticence to punch my Dad. He would cover his face with his gloves and tell me to hit him. To hit him again. To hit him harder. With large gloves there was no way I could harm him.

The second challenge was learning that boxing skills must be used defensively, not vindictively or mean-spiritedly, not to pick fights -- or bully. Boxing was meant to defend by going on offense, by carrying the fight to the bully.

In fact, Dad was teaching me to conquer fear with courage by instilling skill and confidence. That was the opposite of teaching me to never, ever, fight under any circumstance. That could result in more harm than good.

Dad also taught a corollary. Consider using an equalizer when defending against unequal odds. When I was eight or nine I remember two neighbor kids teasing me and pushing me around in my own yard. It was early spring and some of winter’s debris remained in the yard, in this case a large tree branch. I finally had enough. I picked up the branch and, without hesitation, I began smacking them and chasing them out of the yard. No harm done and we eventually became fast friends. They learned I had boundaries and they crossed them at their risk.

It’s amazing how your reputation precedes you. In high school I thought I would try Golden Gloves competition. A trainer in a local gym worked with me. But my mother had other ideas. She didn’t want a punch drunk son and quickly put the kibosh on my plans. Even so, I watched my step and never had trouble in high school.

Later, I discovered many a gym coach kept boxing gloves for the express purpose of settling disputes, including bullying. Later still, in the Army, I knew First Sergeants that kept boxing gloves for the same purpose. In fact, in the Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Friday nights were set aside for boxing matches and all company personnel were required to turn out but not required to box. However, anyone with a beef or feeling their oats could get in the ring.

Although times have changed, there will always be bullies. There always have been. Does anyone seriously believe the illusion that a law will curtail bullying?

What will happen is that an expansive government, that fount mistakenly seen as the source of goodness and fairness and justice, will task the ND Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop a “plan.” In so doing, the taxpayer once again will be on the hook to pay for someone else’s nostrum.

What’s with Character Counts, that paragon of good behavior intended to stave off bad behavior such as bullying?