Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar...*

If you ask around, everybody has a story to tell...
Whether it was your Maths teacher or a bunch of adolescent bullies back at school, the civil servant in some public office - who gets his daily 'high' in an otherwise pathetic existence by making you feel small and powerless at his 'omnipotence' (even if his omnipotence only pertains to declining certain items of your fricking tax declaration).

It is much easier to join the crowd than it is to resist peer pressure; it is easier to humilate someone than to stand up for someone - especially if the person is for some reason 'different' from what is perceived to be 'normal.'
Unfortunately, so many people prefer to make others feel small and miserable instead of adressing their OWN problems, instead of acknowledging that they themselves feel desperate, low and anxious inside.
Respecting human dignity is the basis of a peaceful co-existence in ANY society. Sadly, said dignity has been violated in the past and it continues to be violated - on a daily basis. Whether it's within the micro-cosmos of your own home, or whether it's on a much broader scale - within the mechanisms of a totalitarian regime; it's the bully at school, the abusive husband/parent, the ever-nagging wife, the frustrated civil servant/teacher/manager, the nasty secretary, the pathetic janitor that reported Sophie Scholl to the Nazis or the paparazzo that stops at NOTHING in order to get THAT photo - even if it means violating people's most intimate moments. Your personal freedom (as much as the over-quoted freedom of speech) ends where the dignity of another human being (and that includes celebrities in my book btw) is violated. Whether it's some teens that diss a boy/girl or whether it's the servants of some totalitarian regime who take people away on trucks in the dead of the night, the mechanism at work is the same!
In fact, this has to do with courage and cowardice...these are the two juxtaposed stances that have defined, united and separated us as a human race ever since. Being one or the other is a matter of deliberate choice - not some automatism - everyone has to choose for himself/herself between the camp of the bullies and the camp of the ones who resist. YOU choose, I choose and we all have the choice - most of the time - at least as long as no one is threatening us with a machine gun - and that's something I have rarely heard of.
We are under NO OBLIGATION to be mean, as much as the frustrated civil servant DOESN'T HAVE TO turn his job into a pathetic power-game - one that you, sitting on the other side of the desk, can only lose. It's a choice...we risk losing *face* by NOT succombing to peer pressure, and we might not get rid of our frustrations and feelings of inedequacy by NOT giving in to the sweet taste of power. But - apart from being simple common sense and the basis of enlightened human interaction - this attitude does keep you sane and happier in the heart - because of ONE SIMPLE TRUTH: Being the bully is just as hurtful and damaging as being the victim.

Take care, everybody!