Bullying, you’re lucky if you never experience it. Most of us aren’t that lucky. Bullying is a fact of life. So much it’s even a source of entertainment. A show like “Gossip Girl” is about vicious rumors that gets out of hand. In the show “Glee” the main characters get bullied just for being who they are. At school, or home, physical or verbal, bullying happens. It’s awful when it happens in your tween or teen years. These are supposed to be some of the most fun and awkward times of our lives. Words can scar a person mentally and emotionally. They can confuse you. Someone can make mean jokes about the way you look, your race, who you hang around with, what your wearing, your grades whether it is good or bad. You can ignore the taunts and insults but that’s hard to do. You can say to yourself this bully is just bored, with nothing better to do or maybe he or she learned their behavior from their parents. But then you’re just making excuses for the bully. There is no “good” reason for bullying. You can hope the bully goes away. Mine’s did, but it took a while to heal the damage she did to me.

Middle school was a hard transition. I went from a small elementary, to a big middle school. But it was even worse when a ‘popular girl’ and her friends verbally tormented me. They called me “ugly,” and “weird,” I was just being myself. I don’t know if there was a vicious rumor going around me. But I wanted it all to stop. It got so bad, I felt worthless. I couldn’t even look at myself and I stopped wanting to go to school. We only had one class together but it was two hours long. I thought she was nice at first. I don’t know why she turned on me. I’ll be honest I wished she would just go away, or someone would tease her for once. I wish I could have stuck up for myself better or found someone to talk about it while it was happening, but I was too embarrassed. She was supposed to be in all my classes my second year of middle school. I remember the teachers calling out her name. I thought there would be another year of suffering. Finally someone said she had moved and was going to another school. “What a relief ” I thought. Later I overheard other people disliked her too. They thought she was conceited, and hated how she spread rumors about others. She left but I still had a bad self image. Old wounds heal though. I’m in my first year of high school, which is much bigger than my middle school. I’m stronger because I know myself better and I know who my friends are. They let me be myself, they don’t care that I’m quiet, but sometimes loud. Or confident but sometimes scared. They make me feel beautiful inside and out. I feel like I fit in when I’m with them.


I had one special friend who I trusted and she helped me recover. Now whenever a friend is having a hard time I always listen to them. One of my friends has had problems at home, I listened to her when she talked about her problems and told her to maybe see a counselor. I have another friend who get’s picked on. Girls will make fun of the way she dresses, and take her P.E. clothes and throw them in the shower stalls. I also tell her to maybe see a counselor, but I also always let her know I’m here to listen. There are many forms of bullying. Cyber bullying has became more popular. It is also known as the “invisible attack” because the bully can be anonymous. They can trash people. It’s not fair. Teenagers like myself make technology our whole world. Why should somebody have to give it up just because another person gets pleasure out of pain? But once any damage is done it is all about the way a person handles it. I now take care of myself better. My bully left and I did not let another one take her place. I know now that a bully’s words are meaningless if you know yourself well. I love writing, sports, and performing arts. My goal is to be successful in each one. No one volunteers to be bullied. But if it happens know that there is always a light at the end of each tunnel. You might come out a better person. There are celebrities who say they were bullied when they were young, and the experience made them stronger and now I know what they mean.