I got picked on/bullied quite a bit in middle school and jr. high, and some in high school. I was the big/chubby kid, and I was the foreign kid (never mind that I spoke better english than they did, I didn't know the
slang). Plus I was a geek/nerd. Triple whammy right there. Even though I had taken Judo as a kid, my parents (and my instructors) taught me not to respond physically unless it was absolutely necessary.
While I was in 5th grade, after having me come home nearly in tears nearly every day after school, my parents met with the principal. Explained to him what was going on. He gave them some nonsense about, "well, boys will be boys, and no one has witnessed this behavior, and blahblahblah..." (Oh, did I forget to mention that one of my biggest tormentors was his nephew?
) Well, Dad kinda came unhinged at that point. He cut the principal off, and said, "Fine. We have taught him that it's not right to respond with physical force unless it's absolutely necessary." Then he turns to me and says, "if these kids keep pestering you, and a teacher doesn't stop it immediately, then it's obviously necessary that you need to respond with physical force." Principal got all puffed up about that, started blubbering about how I should turn the other cheek, etc.... Dad wheels on him and says, "He's turned the other cheek every day. And you've done nothing to stop it. If you don't want him to respond physically, then you better put a stop to this nonsense."
Well, sure enough, the next day, the principal's nephew starts in on me again. I ignore his verbal taunts, and turn away, but then he pushes me in the back. I wheel around, and I'm pretty sure this punch started somewhere down around my ankles, nail him with a b-e-a-utiful uppercut in the solar plexus. Knock the wind out of him but good. He's getting pretty panicked cause he can't catch his breath. Takes him a good 30 seconds to start breathing again. By this time he's got tears streaming down his cheek. And the rest of the class is just staring in shock.... That one pretty much ended my problems with bullies in middle school.