Recently on Facebook ads, I’ve been badgered with pleas to purchase a tool called “How to Teach Your Children Not to Be Bullies, and How to Teach Them to Not Just Stand By and Watch.” I’m certain that isn’t the verbatim title, but you get the gist. My immediate thought is that the most effective way to teach our children about bullying is by the way we respond to bullies. If we applaud them, our children will. If we turn away when the weak and vulnerable are being taken advantage of or maligned or mistreated, that’s what our children will see as the appropriate response. Kids are not stupid. They won’t believe what a person says if they see him or her doing something different. If we want our children to be kind and merciful and considerate, or, at the least, tolerant, then we must be also.

It has been disturbing to see that bullying was such an intrinsic part of the recent presidential campaign. Have we proven to the youngest generation that bullying is the path to enormous power? I hope not. Let us hope, instead, that, as the dust settles, we will see that goodness, kindness, and cooperation are what makes a nation great. Everyone of us has a chance to be a part of that movement.