I got my butt kicked a few times by bullies throughout my school years. I was the youngest kid in the class but I would always give it right back to the bullies. Which is why I got my butt kicked. It made me a tough little shit—I wasn’t afraid of getting hit. By the time I started growing some muscle in high school I could really defend myself. By the time I was 21 I was 5-11, 190 lbs and no longer had problems with people picking on me.
My experience was that if you kept a sense of honor and refused to allow people to insult you, it really didn’t matter if you won or lost the fights. What bullies don’t respect, and like to beat up on, are people who cringe and allow themselves to be insulted.
I was the smallest kid in my class all through school. I remember someone saying, puzzled but kind of admiringly, “Why do you play football, when you always end up on the bottom of the pile?” I don’t remember what I replied. Probably, “That’s life,” or something of the sort.