The push is on to upgrade the study of civics in both K-12 and Higher Ed. “Civics” has been officially defined as “the study of the civil and political rights and obligations of citizens in a society.”

An essential component of civics is history. Why do we study history? We study history to learn about human behavior. Many of us intuitively believe that past behavior can be extrapolated to the future. Put another way, the past is a prologue to the future.

One critical feature of the behavior of some humans is bullying. Bullying may occur between individual humans and may also occur between human nations.

The term “bullying” would probably not even be in my vocabulary were it not for a close encounter my elder brother had with bullying. The family never knew about it. No doubt brother was ashamed or embarrassed to disclose it. I learned about it confidentially from an elder sister who observed the events firsthand.

It seems a small gang of three or four goons would be waiting for my brother when he alighted from the school bus. Zeroing in on my brother, they surrounded him and verbally harassed him, accompanied by some pushing. Brother was cautiously defiant. The encounters never came to blows.

Who these goons were, we never knew. None of us ever saw them at school. And, no, they were not Venezuelan.

According to my witness, my older sister, this went on daily for two to three months, until one night when it came to a head at a Christmas dance held by our local CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). There, among the red and green holiday decorations and dancers stepping to the rhythm of the Fox Trot, the little mob of goons descended on my brother, surrounding him, harassing him, and pushing him.

This time the physical component of the harassment crescendoed a bit, taking the form of goon fingers poking brother in the chest. For whatever reason, my brother was so provoked that he apparently lost control and finally threw fear to the wind.

The goon leader was standing close to my brother on my brother’s right side and within easy reach of my brother’s extended right arm. That’s how the goon leader’s finger-poke to my brother’s face was instantly answered by the back of my brother’s hand striking the goon leader’s Adam’s apple! The strike was not sufficiently energetic to cause any actual harm, but the sheer surprise of it did, in fact, propel the goon leader a step or two backward.

Shock and astonishment descended upon the scene. Not a word was spoken as the goons all looked around at the goon leader and each other in questioning wonder. The goons quietly vanished, simply walked away, never to return.

Human nature is what it is. Bullies will bully until they are reminded that there are consequences for their actions. And then they’ll stop. One could say that, at a national level, civics teaches a form of civility that sees bullies taught to stay in their place and refrain from aggression. Donald Trump understands this and, if his history is a guide, acts accordingly.

Bullying image by AI.