I have to say, I was surprised by how many of you responded to my previous post with similar stories! It makes me sad that so many others have been tormented by bullies but also made me realize how many other people may have been bullied that I never knew about!
I just wanted to make a few little clarifications:
I did have a few close real life friends... but sadly we didn't go to school together in high school and in middle school we all got picked on together.
I don't exactly forgive all of the people who bullied me... some of them were worse than others. There are some who did things which I will never forgive no matter what.
Someone made a comment about parents... and that is an excellent point. I agree that parents do need to be actively involved in whatever the punishment is. I bet a lot of parents don't even realize what their kids are doing or just push it off as "kids being kids".
Later tonight we will be back to our regularly scheduled Eirik updates. =)
I haven't had a chance to comment on your other posts this week but I just wanted to tell you how much I admire you for sharing your stories.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't the most popular girl in school either. In fact, from grade 2-7 I was at a private school where I totally did not belong. My family lived below the poverty line and my dad owned a small janitorial service. He cleaned the private school where I attended (which was all Dr. and Lawyers kids) in return for me to get free tuition. I used to have to stay behind after school and help my dad empty the trash in all of the classrooms and all the kids would laugh and bully me. It was horrible to be the janitor's daughter. I hated my dad for it. Now, as I've grown older, I realize that it was a huge sacrifice for my dad to clean for FREE so that I could go to a good school. But the kids were so cruel. There were many days that I wanted to hurt myself physically to match the emotional pain that I was experiencing. There was even one day that I was punched in the face during 6th grade when the bullying got so out of control that a boy actually socked me in the eye while pushing me around. Nobody did anything about it. The boy's dad was a radiologist with a lot of money. My dad was the janitor. Who would you believe?
I had absolutely NO friends during those years. I finally convinced my dad to let me go to public school where things better.
Do I forgive those people who bullied me? Absolutely fucking no. Never. I refuse to allow that type of behavior to become justified. The parents in my case were just as guilty as the kids. But in the end, it was a horrible reality.
I'm sorry you lived through the hell of bullying. Just know that we can break the cycle and teach our kids tolerance and acceptance.