Bullies feel oppressed when they are prevented from bullying. True compassion in this scenario is ensuring they feel oppressed.

A very common mistake people make is assuming everyone else’s emotions and thoughts work the same way theirs do. This cuts both ways: Compassionate people assume everyone else strives for compassion. Bullies assume everyone else enjoys bullying. Both are wrong.

These are not hardwired personalities we are stuck with for life. They can change. But it is a mistake to assume everyone else has the same goals as you.

If you assume everyone else works the same way as you, you might become a compassionate person that is eternally tricked by bullies. Or you might become a bully that believes everyone else is only pretending to care about compassion. Both are dead-end dispositions.

People can change! But people are also dramatically different from each other. If you try to change people who do not want to change, you will never succeed. If you think literally everyone around you is lying and cheating, you will never succeed.