WorldWide Drilling Resource

The Un-Comfort Zone II by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. How to Make a Bully Back Off As the author of the humorous children’s novel The Annoying Ghost Kid , I am occasionally invited to visit an ele- mentary school. I’ve developed a three-part program which includes an animated reading from my book; an interactive lesson in how the creative process of writing a story works; and, since the book is about a ghost who bullies two living kids, I share some techniques for dealing with a bully. The anti-bullying techniques I share are simple and designed to be easy to remember even in the unexpected moment of a bully attack. There is one for verbal attacks and one for physical attacks, both of which are peaceful and positive, yet still enable the victims to stand up for themselves without escalating the aggres- sion. Today, I’m writing about my technique for physical attacks. I begin by explaining that most bullies want an easy victim, someone who is going to cry and run away. They don’t want to bully someone who will fight back. Bullies are cowards at heart because they themselves are afraid. They don’t believe anyone likes them; they feel worthless; and think if they bully someone, it will make them feel important. I go on to say: if someone hits you, shoves you, trips you, or tries to hurt you in any other way, I want you to immediately face them, throw out the palm of your hand like a traffic cop signaling “Stop,” and yell as loud as you can, “BACK OFF!” All while giving them a squinty-eyed stare which you hold for a long moment. Then continue on your way as if nothing happened. What this will do is make your bully think twice about attacking you again. It will make them think you are tougher than they thought. You don’t have to believe it, you only have to make them believe it. Now I’d like to illustrate how well this works by sharing a story with you of a time I bullied someone. You see, I was once guilty of bullying a snake, but 22 NOVEMBER 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Wilson cont’d on page 30. Astec Industries, Inc. announced the acquisition of RexCon LLC, one of the leading full-line concrete batch plant manufacturers in the U.S. for $26 million. “We are very pleased to welcome RexCon to theAstec Industries family of companies. The acquisition of RexCon reflects our stated strategy to drive fo- cused growth, both organically and through acquisitions of strong compa- nies, that serve the infrastructure, aggregate and mining, and energy industries,” stated Benjamin G. Brock CEO of Astec Industries, Inc. “. . . We thank the owners, Jake Jacobs and Mike Redmond, for their collaborative efforts in finalizing this transaction, and we are pleased that they will continue to run and work to grow RexCon, as a part of Astec Industries, joining our Energy Group.”