Wednesday's Words of Wisdom: John Dryden on Bullying

Thought for the Day: Yesterday, I gave a tip on cyberbullying and had some very positive comments from readers on Google +.  Jason Brick wrote: "This is the best advice I've seen about cyberbullying. As a security guy, I've noticed how similar cyberbullying is to stalking...and the best response to stalking is no response at all Any contact or engagement just encourages the jerk to continue being a jerk." TheLearningStationwrote: "Many parents, teachers and children will benefit from this article. Thanks for sharing such a wealth of knowledge." Although it felt great to get the kind compliments, I was actually a bit surprised, since it was a very short tip in which the answer was limited by around 200 letters on HealthTap.com's app. 

John Dryden (photo from Wikepedia)

Today, as I searched for a quote while scanning my twitter feed, I realized that what I thought was timely, yet brief advice, could have been shorter and written by someone who lived long before the internet existed.  I guess that King Solomon was right when he said, "There is nothing new under the sun." @DennyCoates posted a quote by JohnDryden, an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright, who lived from 1631 to 1700. I was struck that little has changed since Dryden's time. He could have been writing today about cybebullies. He wrote, " For they conquer who they believe they can." As I said yesterday, don't let them believe they can conquer you. That is one of the reasons that learning the sport of Judo can help bully-proof a child or adult, even if they never raise a finger in self-defense. In the same way, having dreams and plans of action to accomplish them reduce the possibility for bullies to believe they can conquer you. 

Over the last week, I have tried to let as many people as possible know about this using humor about Santa admitting he is visually impaired and becoming a spokesperson for The Blind Judo Foundation. It has been a humorous campaign about a seriously supportive and wonderful organization. Today is the last day of the Christmas Countdown sale benefitting The Blind JudoFoundation. I hope you will consider buying The Wake Up and Dream Challenge to bully-proof yourself, your family and friends from bullies & start moving towards a life filled with dreams.