I agree with you and would like to add that sometimes someone could bully out of envy too.
Whether its physical, verbal or non verbal (shunning someone for example) one aspect remains constant, once the backlash starts the bully always says something along the lines of 'it was all a bit of fun' 'i never meant anything by it' or something along those mealy mouthed, pathetic excuse lines.
I agree a bully is a coward and when faced up to would, always cower away from taking any form of blame or responsibilities for their actions.
It's wrong on so many different levels, one of my best friends at school was driven to suicide by it, i'll repeat thet, he was driven to suicide because he was a little cleverer than most of his peer group, what a wonderful thing to have to explain to a parent eh? Funnily enough the main 'thing' behind the campaign used much the same excuses i listed above.....If ever there was a poster boy for lobotomisation that was it.
I read this and felt a deep sense of sadness as I could relate to what you have written here.
The problem with the severely long termed bullied is that in a lot of cases they will not say they are being bullied, it just gets bottled up and they get into a cycle of self hate and self blame, they alienate themselves from others on purpose and end up trusting no one.....and then it becomes dangerous.
The reason I can relate to this thread as I have been there I was bullied and it is true the mental scars were hard to bear at the time. Nobody sees them they are hidden, there are changes in your character that gets questioned, but it easy to just avoid how you feel. I questioned myself wondered if I was the cause of someone’s dislike of me.
I was lucky the metal torture turned to physical there was no hiding that from my parents. It was then action was taken, and my Mum said she was glad it got that far, she said if it had not who knows what could have happened. I always felt I was strong enough to overcome it.
This of course is in part caused by the ease with which some toss in the bullying card when things don't go their way, much the same as the racist card is used, it devalues the meaning and seriousness of the word, causing rightly or wrongly others to go
'Here we go again"This means that those cases which are severe, ongoing and likely to cause damage to people are sometimes missed or dismissed as not severe until it's all to late.
This is why I raised this thread I feel the same way you do, when I see people on here saying they feel bullied, yes I can understand it, yes I feel for them, but then part of me feels walk away, take no notice, these people can’t hurt you don’t fall victim to them, don’t give them the satisfaction of knowing what they say is hurting you.
When I am faced with people in life now that like to TRY and intimidate me, do you know how great it feels to have the strength to walk away and smile, nobody would ever make me feel a victim today. Yes I would to a degree stand up for myself but I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of feeling they had won the battle because I don’t fight.
Some situations in life you don’t have the chance to walk away from.
My personal view.....I hate bullies, I do not pity or wish to understand them, they are inadequate, self centered cowards and not worthy of my thought.
My personal views are these I don’t hate anyone, hatred is full of anger, it can destroy a persons real character, it can make us bitter, cause resentment the bullies then would still be winning.
I can forgive and forget.
Move on and enjoy my life.
That way I have won the battle in my mind.
If I remember it was after having one of my topics deleted by one f the ancients 
