Bully

When I had a friend up to stay with me recently, he bought a copy of a PS2 game called Bully. This was made by RockStar which is the same company that gave us the Grand Theft Auto games. I was a bit suspicious at first, but I found as he played this game and as I did some as well, that I quite enjoyed it.

Bully is the story of a young teenage boy named Jimmy Hopkins. At the start, one sees that he lives in a dysfunctional family where he can’t stand his step-dad and is pleased to say so. He is sent off to the school where the game takes place in order to be trasnformed from a punk kid to a fine and upstanding member of society.

<>The school is filled with several other toughs though and others that aren’t so tough as well as several lovely young ladies.  Jimmy is the newcomer on campus and as such, he’s the outsider. Several groups just want to beat him up and the ladies don’t want to give him the time of day. His goal is to become the big man on campus.

<>Along the way though, he does have to attend classes. I found many of these quite enjoyable, especially the English classes. He must work to earn money to buy the things that he needs and must help out fellow students at times.  All of this while still maintaining the school curfew. Like any action such as fighting, you get in trouble and if your trouble meter is active and a prefect finds you, you’ll be in trouble.

Not everything he does is commendable and the game can be crude at times, but I am still amazed by it. I find the simple adventures of school life taking on new meaning. Each good deed that Jimmy does is a mission and he must succeed at it. I found as I went on in the game that I did develop more empathy for the kid and I think I understood where he was coming from and saw how such a person could be transformed.

However, I also looked at my own life. Am I not on the same path? Am I not the one from the fallen family of man seeking to be transformed? Am I viewing my life as excitement despite a lot of the trials that go on? Am I pleased with my achievements as well like Jimmy is? Is there any adventure in my life.

I hope that there is, and I hope there is for you as well. Today, I suggest you open your eyes up to seeing the world as a place to explore in wonder.