“Hey! YOU!” The crowd is pushing in around me. I turn around to see a brown-headed girl pointing her finger into my chest. Stumbling backwards to avoid any further discomfort, I begin to study her features. Her brown hair came down to her ribs, her eyes hazel, her cheekbones are high, and her lips are thin and have a vicious but sweet look to them. I saw the fire in her eyes and the curl of her lips, but knowing a power-hungry friend is better than no friend at all. At least that is what I thought when I met Carlee in the fourth grade.

Best of friends; two peas in a pod; the two queens of the world. That was what we were. Going to each other’s houses, birthday parties, school events, and even band. Each event and each meeting, however, became more of a price to pay on my part. The teasing and taunting, the jeers and jabs, they were all to me. All about me. By the time we had reached the seventh grade, it had reached its climax. Name-calling and making fun of who I was became the punch line of the jokes. “No make-up again? Are you sure you checked the mirror before you left? When are you going to wear shorts shorter that knee height?” All were daily questions, which I just blew off and continued with the regular answers of, “ Yup, hate make-up. Didn’t have to,” and “Whenever the prices for shorter shorts gets around the same price as the material they offer.”

Many years I hid the pain, the torture of school, and the torture of going home and hating myself for putting up with the hostility. Finally, I mustered up the courage to leave the parasitic relationship and start a new life. Growing respect for myself, learning to love others, but also coming to the hypothesis: Bullies are dictators.

Adolf Hitler had a soft side, an artistic side, but he also was a bully. The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich was one of the infamous art pieces done by Hitler. He was a kind and artistic young boy and had many friends. Many of his peers thought him as friendly and kind-hearted at first, but soon learned of his power-hungry attitude. Hitler’s friends had an insight on what was to fall upon the many “weaklings,” “nerds,” and “not worthy” people that Hitler subdued in his reign of terror. Years he terrorized his victims, for his own gain: to make him feel better.

Too many times we overlook the obvious, the inconceivable is often right in front of us. Often, the word “bully” is thrown out there to make a jab at someone for horsing around with you. The word “bully” should be thought upon with more gravity. It is a person who destroys the lives of others for their own gain, to put someone beneath you and to crush them with every effort you have into a form of power over your opponents. A bully is a dictator.