If you make one friend by standing up for them, they will be more loyal than the ten friends you would’ve kept by joining in.

I’m a 22 y/o hetero male and I never expected to connect with a 6th grade girl’s diary but it certainly takes me back. It is enlightening to realize what certain girls in my life were thinking. It also brings up shame from the few times I joined in on the bullying. I wasn’t tremendously popular but I was friends with everyone. No one particularly disliked me, and I felt in some situations that if I hadn’t joined in I’d be chastised. That being said, I was often the one to tell people to fuck off, providing I didn’t like the ones doing the picking.
So I got something to share with my kids: If you make one friend by standing up for them, they will be more loyal than the ten friends you would’ve kept by joining in.