The other day, I saw a video on http://singledadlaughing.com . It was posted by a boy named Jonah who was starting Junior high. He, like so many was being bullied. In his case because he was gay. People called him names and they were horrible. I really felt bad for this kid because on some level, I could relate. No, I'm not gay and no, this is not a pity party.
In my case, I am special needs or what ever politically correct term people want to assign this week. I was born two months early at three pounds four ounces and as a result of this (as well as some trauma during my birth) I have a minor case of cerebral Palsy and hydrocephalous. These are things that I deal with but they are not the reason for this post.
As I said before, I felt for Jonah because like him and so many others, I had been bullied. One year I decided I had enough so, I snapped my glasses in half and tossed them in a trash can along with my math book. I guess I thought they would fix things.
I know someone who was bullied because he was white when most kids he went to school with weren't.
I don't pretend to understand why bullies pick on certain people but My guess is that they look for something different about their "victim" weather it be a disability or someone who is more academic minded then their peers. They could be the wrong race, or perhaps they are gay. My point here is that bullying happens to many people for many different reasons. No matter what the reason, bullying has lasting effects and it's W R O N G!
That is very sad...I think in middle school kids are the cruelest. I rarely see bullies now in high school and very little in elementary school. But yes I remember riding the bus home in middle school a couple years ago and this big mean scary kid was pushing and calling this poor little kid on my bus bad names. The little kid that was getting bullied didn't do anything to deserve it.. he was very quiet and kept mostly to himself. I guess the kid just picked on him because he was small? Like you said they look for something different. I stood up to that big mean kid and told him to stop it and thankfully the bus driver noticed!!! The police actually came to our school the next day and pulled me out of class to testify and explain what happened. The big mean kid got expelled from school for his bad behavior and it turned out that he was also doing drugs.... justice does get served in some cases.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, two of the kids who had bullied me found me years later and apologized. I have to admit, I was not expecting that. It took guts. Heidi, good for you standing up like that. It made a world of difference to the kid being bullied.
ReplyDelete