When I was a sixth grader, I was bullied the entire school year. It wasn’t a fun year (major understatement), and I came home upset more days than not. Most of the mistreatment was instigated by one student, and I remember my mom telling me as hard it was, I needed to pray for her, because someone so mean and ugly to people desperately needed God. If people don’t know Him, they can’t be expected to behave like one of His children. If people don’t know Him, they’ll have no concept of grace. If people don’t know Him, their behavior will reflect what they do know: the world. You and I and our fellow believers are held to a higher standard because we DO know Him. It’s easy to get angry at people who act like the world, but I think my mom had great advice, which came from God’s Word: pray for those who persecute you. Hatred breeds hatred and ugliness; prayer changes hearts. I don’t know if prayer ever changed the heart of my bully, but I do know it changed mine toward her.