When I was in first grade Mark Thomas called me fat. It was devastating but I cried to my parents and they made it better. I have weight issues but I don’t think that that one event was the sole cause. Mark and I spent the rest of our school years in separate classes until eighth grade when we sat next to each other and became friends. We never discussed the incident I just assumed he forgot.
That is sort of the perfect snapshot of elementary school for me. I was never popular but I wasn't an outcast. Aside from one or two girls I’d know from my toddler days, that carried through all nine years, I had an ever changing cast of people I hung out with. I had a different "best friend" countless times, every one of whom fell by the waste side when given enough time. In High school, which was all girls, I met my sister from another mister, Lauren, who I am confident will be my best friend forever and the two of us had our same group (us plus Natalie and Erin) for four years. Acquaintances came and went, so did Lauren and my boyfriends, but our clan was solid. We were a small group but it was there that I learned it's better to have a few great friends than 100 people to hang out with.
What can I say, Girls are bitches and kids suck but I was never really bullied. Life isn't easy but it helps to have a good sense of humor and laugh at yourself. Then again maybe kids just got worse. You hear a lot about people being bullied to death and recently a friend of a friend literally ate a bottle of pills and had written out the notes (including one to the bullies explaining how they did it and how she hoped they were happy.) She wasn't bluffing, she planned to die. Luckily her mother caught it in time.
I don’t know what to say to rectify the situation that we face in this world. I had great parents that I could always talk to, but this girl has a great mother too. I always felt comfortable talking to my teachers and maybe kids don’t have this anymore. I guess four years at my liberal hippy college has made me soft but I don’t understand the bullies themselves. Why can't we all just get along? Differences are what make us who we are and they should be embraced.
This made me tear up. I got depressed as a teen too and I think if I didn't have you and your family to talk to I would have done something horrible. I guess like you said kids today just don't feel like they can talk to anyone. That fact is so sad and hopefully it will change soon.
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