Chapter 1: Tyler chooses between Dennis and Shawn’s gang

Chapter 1 of 4 - Shawn and his gang were waging psychological warfare on Tyler. One day, Dennis playfully nudged Tyler while he was with them. Instead of laughing in welcome, Tyler and the gang accused Dennis of hitting Tyler and warned him he better watch his back.

Chapter 1: Dennis’s strange encounter with Tyler and Shawn’s gang

Dennis thought, “I sure would like to be accepted by the more popular kids.” If Dennis was more accepted by the popular kids, then this would help him get his BELONGING need met; and also, it would help him feel rather POWERFUL.

Dennis also thought, “I sure don’t want to be called a wimp or a wuss.” Not being called names would help Dennis get his needs for not only SAFETY & SECURITY met, but also would help him feel like he was getting his RESPECT need met too.

Additionally, Dennis thought, “I want to be FREE to do the things I know to be right without any kids giving me a hard time about it. Also, I don’t want any kids giving me negative peer pressure.” If Dennis felt FREE to do what he felt was right, he would not only get his FREEDOM need met, but it also would affirm his feelings of SELF-RESPECT.

Dennis wanted to please his parents. He wanted to please his friends. But most of all, he wanted to please himself. If he could find a way to do all three, he thought, “Man! If I could somehow manage to please my parents, my friends, and myself, it would be so much FUN. Plus, I would know I really BELONGED.”

One day, Dennis was walking through the hallways of his school. He saw Tyler talking to some guys who were rather on the dangerous side. Nevertheless, he thought, “Tyler is my friend. I know he accepts me. So I guess those guys will accept me too.”

Dennis was feeling very SAFE and SECURE up to this point. He was so convinced that he really had his BELONGING need all taken care of with Tyler, and potentially, these other guys. So Dennis confidently walked up to Tyler and that gang of guys. He playfully nudged Tyler in the ribs and said, “Hey, Tyler! What are you guys up to?"

Tyler jerked in surprise. Turning a face filled with irritation on Dennis, he snapped, “What’s the big idea, hitting me?”

Dennis was really surprised. He exclaimed, “Hitting you???!!! I didn’t hit you! I was just playing around. I didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”

One of the other guys, Jerry, said, “That’s not the way I saw it. I saw ‘Dennis THE MENACE’ here purposely come up and knock into you. Playing around -- nothing! You hit Tyler, and you know it!”

Charlie said, “That’s right! I saw it too! You better admit it and then beg for mercy!”

Dennis’s mouth fell open in shocked surprise. This wasn’t at all how he had envisioned this encounter going. Dennis had expected Tyler to turn around with a big smile of welcome. Then he had imagined that Tyler would encourage him to join the conversation. As a result, these cool guys would welcome him too. That was the FUN encounter that he had been hoping to experience. But instead, those guys began enacting a mob mentality where they collectively looked at him with hate and animosity.

One by one, each guy made some derogatory comment aimed in his direction. Seeing a teacher walking toward them, Shawn, the leader of the gang, hissed, “You better watch your back, Dennis.”

Then Shawn and his gang all turned and walked away.

Dennis watched, mouth agape, as Tyler walked off with them without a backward glance. Dennis thought, “What was that all about?” He tried very hard to wrap his brain around this new chain of events, but it seemed to be beyond his understanding.

Suddenly, Dennis became aware of the rush of students. Glancing at his watch, he saw that the tardy bell was about to ring. He immediately rushed off to his next class.

Dennis walked over to his desk and slumped into his seat. He glanced up front and saw that Mr. Campbell was still occupied with taking role. So Dennis leaned over and whispered, “Tyler, I promise you, I was NOT trying to hit you. I hope your friends weren’t serious in what they said!”

Dennis waited for Tyler to joke around like he usually did; but instead, he simply looked away. Dennis wondered if Tyler had heard him. Quickly, he thought he would try one more time. He said, “Tyler, I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean for it to hurt, if it did. I was just playing around.”

Still Tyler acted like he didn’t hear. Feeling a little desperate, Dennis thought about tapping Tyler on the shoulder to try to get his attention. Dennis stopped himself from trying that, as he was a little afraid Tyler and his friends would make a federal case out of it. So he did nothing and said nothing more.

As Mr. Campbell carried on with class, Dennis thought, “I sure would like to do that I Message thing with Tyler, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t work. Instead of coming off like RESPONSIBLE REPORTING, I bet Tyler would think I was snitching on him.”

Somewhat coincidentally, Mr. Campbell started talking about the FIGHT OR FLIGHT INSTINCT that kicks in when people find themselves in fearful situations. Dennis wondered which he did. He thought, “Well, when Tyler and those guys turned on me, I didn’t exactly do the FLIGHT thing as I stood my ground. But then, I did kind of take FLIGHT since I didn’t FIGHT harder to make them understand that I was just trying to attract Tyler’s attention. The last thing I’d want to do is hit him. I just wanted to be part of the group.”

Dennis no longer felt SAFE or SECURE with Tyler or those guys. Additionally, he no longer was getting his BELONGING need met with Tyler. He felt really DISRESPECTED. He also felt a little paranoid that he wasn’t as FREE to walk through the halls, since he was going to have to watch his back, as Shawn had threatened.

What Dennis didn’t know was that he had interrupted a gang who had been waging psychological warfare on Tyler for several weeks. They had pulled a similar trick on Tyler when he once accidentally knocked into Drew, one of their gang.

They had started issuing warnings to Tyler to watch his back, as he was now potentially their number-one target. On those kind of days, Shawn, the leader of the gang, would stride up to Tyler and hatefully warn, “Tyler! We heard what you said! You better watch your back!”

Startled, Tyler would state defensively, “Shawn! What do you mean? I didn’t say anything against you!”

Jerry would claim, “You sure did! Charlie heard you! Right, Charlie?”

Charlie would state, “You better believe it! You better never say anything like that again!”

Tyler protested, “Charlie! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I promise, I never said anything!”

Charlie demanded, “Are you calling me a liar?”

Practically shaking in his shoes, Tyler would plead, “No, of course not! Please, guys! Give me a break!”

Every now and then, they would throw Tyler a bone, so to speak, by being nice to him. Shawn would come up and say, “Tyler, old buddy! It’s good to see you! Have you thought any more about joining our gang?”

Tyler would almost stutter and say, “Uh, …, hi, Shawn! Yeah, uh, …, I’ve been thinking about it. But then, I thought you guys were mad at me.”

Shawn would respond, “No biggie, Tyler! I’m not gonna hold a grudge if you won’t.”

Relieved, Tyler would say, “No, of course not!”

Then suddenly, just as Tyler was getting comfortable, the gang would turn on him once again. Shawn, Charlie, Jerry, Drew, or some of the others would again falsely accuse Tyler of doing or thinking all kinds of things he would never say or do.

Eventually, Tyler found himself feeling eager to please them, to be one of them, so he would be SAFE from them and SAFE with them -- from others. Tyler had just been getting the feeling he had been making headway with them, when Dennis interrupted.

Characteristic of mob mentality, Tyler and the group had almost reacted as one, turning on Dennis the way that they did. Tyler was pleased that the gang seemed to want to protect him. Tyler needed, he wanted to be SAFE. He figured, “I know I will be SAFE with them walking through the halls with me. As for Dennis, he’s an okay guy, but he’s not in their league at all. Nah, I choose them!”

Part of the psychological warfare mentality is to prey on the weak and separate them from the herd. Shawn and his gang INSTINCTIVELY realized that if they could separate Tyler from Dennis and any of his other frequent companions, Tyler would feel forced to join them since he would no longer have anybody else to turn to.

So Tyler became convinced that if Shawn’s gang finally accepted him, he would be in SAFE hands. As a result, he consciously clung to his angry stance that Dennis was the bad guy, and Shawn and his gang were the good guys. Sure enough, within two or three more days, Tyler had allowed himself to be sufficiently brainwashed by them, that he now felt himself a firm member of that group.

In consequence, Tyler felt like he could do nothing else but ignore or be mean to a guy he formerly had considered to be a pretty good friend.

Dennis, of course, did not know or understood any of this. For a while, he continued to make friendly advances toward Tyler, to no avail. Eventually, he gave up.