Is it how I look? Dress? Speak? Walk? Is it my love for Madonna or that I like tuna fish? If they had just explained I would've adjusted. But then I wouldn't be me...
Sing!
Moving The Simpsons GIFGiphy"Because I was listening to music in a school break, like literally. I can't listen to music??"
It's Cheese!
"I got crap for eating cottage cheese. Actually, that one had followed me into adulthood. People just really, really hate the concept of cottage cheese."
"Edit: 250 updoots for my cheesy childhood struggles. In retrospect, I should have realized that my reflections about how many adults are irritated by cottage cheese would only be confirmed tenfold by commenters on the internet. I have played myself."
- cjkcinab
'poor kid'
"I was bullied in middle school because I'm the first kid in school that had 120s crayola. It was an all rich catholic school and I was known to be the 'poor kid' and they didn't like the fact my grandma could get me that much crayolas lol."
- nipp1e
"LOL I forgot what a status thing crayons were as a kid. Everyone with a big box had it proudly displayed on their desk. And kids would try and steal "unusual" colors."
Weighted Down
"Got bullied for being fat AFTER I lost 16kg over the summer. At the time I was 5'4 and 59kg, definitely not fat and the kids who bullied me all weighed more than me. My classmates were dumb."
The Winder
"One time in 3rd grade I farted really loud during silent reading time. Some kid nicknamed me Fartacus, and it stuck for the rest of elementary school."
Who is angry at people loving music? Anger is all manifestation. But getting into the anger source of bullies will keep us here all year. Just keep reading...
mean chihuahua dog GIFBlades
"Being respectful to the bully's dad. He started bullying me after that, when I stood up for myself he said 'I know I can't take you in a fight so I'll just stab you!' and showed me the knife."
"My "friend" in the 4th grade showed me his new switchblade and held it to my throat. He also taught me how to smoke e-cigarettes when they were hot crap (early 2010's). In hindshight he wasn't a very good friend."
Jumbo Jack
"My older brother was a chunky kid, didn't really do sports or activities unless forced. So around the time he was in 5th grade, he was being bullied and called "Jumbo-Jack" after the burger at Jack In The Box. His name is also Jack, so it worked. The younger kids picked on him too for it. Then when I started on the bus, they started picking on me, calling me "Jumbo Junior" even though as a kid I was skinny and athletic. Didn't matter to them."
Hooded
"That you can't see my upper eye lids easily when my eyes are open. They just get kinda shoved under my eyebrows and hidden out of the way. I was called a freak and a mutant. For having hooded eyes. I don't even."
Meow...
Michelle Pfeiffer Batman GIFGiphy"I have a cat without a whole tail, yea they made fun of me cuz of my cat. Life can be weird."
No rhyme, no reason... there is the theme of it all. That is good to know, would've loved to known sooner. Be kind everybody, we all need it.
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My schools weren't perfect. We had bullies and fights broke out often, but nobody ever pulled out a knife or a gun. And all of our teachers and students survived. Well most, the one's that didn't, succumb to natural causes. How do we get back there?
Eyes Closed
Confused Daily Show GIF by CTV Comedy ChannelGiphy"Kid streaked (fully naked) across campus, hiding his face using a condom. He passed out about a minute into the run."
DOA
"My classmates dad had a heart attack at graduation and died. He was just yelling at his wife and keeled over."
"A similar thing happened at my girlfriends graduation. It was a hit packed gym And all of a sudden in the middle of the ceremony people start moving away from a spot in the bleachers near me, turns out one of the graduating student's aunt was having a heart attack. She lived though because literally every first responder was there (small town 1500 people 80 in graduating class) and the fire station was a block away."
Awful People
"There was a girl in my school who was being bullied and basically chased into the busy street in front of the school. She got hit by a few cars. The next morning people were making fun of the situation because her shoes flew off after she was hit. My school was filled with a**holes."
"Edit: She did end up dying. I think she may have died on impact. But the memory is fuzzy. She didn't die in the hospital that I know for sure."
For Cred?
"At one of the schools I went to, some kid stabbed a disabled kid to get into a gang."
"And I'm sure that "street cred" will buy him a lot of ramen when he's sitting in prison for the next few decades."
Fake Out
New Girl Facepalm GIF by HULUGiphy"We had somebody plant fake bombs and call in a bomb threat at the high school so the police would all be focused at the high school. Was really just a distraction for a double homicide/suicide across town."
Oh see there, that's all a bit much. School is stressful enough already. Our class clowns only exhibited foolish behavior, like spitballs, fake bombs? We've lost control...
In the heart
Facepalm Smh GIFGiphy"A teacher went to break up a fight, and she got stabbed in the chest. Teachers were not allowed to break up fights after that. She survived but she quit teaching."
Alarms...
"The seniors planned their senior prank to have a bunch of alarm clocks go off in lockers all over the school throughout the day. The idea was that by the time one locker was unlocked to turn off the alarm another would be going off. Unfortunately for the seniors, the day they planned this happened to be the same day Obama was campaigning at the fair grounds less than a mile away. The alarm clocks got mistaken as bomb threats and just about every senior in the school was questioned by either police or teachers. Basically it was just a huge misunderstanding that lead to a whole bunch of crap."
Assassins...
"Someone tried to assassinate the physics teacher. Our high school was 3 stories. The math and science rooms were on the 3rd floor. During parent-teacher interviews someone turned on all the natural gas taps in his classroom and left a lit candle on the floor."
"The idea being that since natural gas rises. It would fill the room and explode when it touched the candle. Teacher found it only a few minutes after the would be assassin left the room and was able to put out the candle. They never figured out who did it, to the best of my knowledge."
My Brother's Ex
"My brother dated a girl briefly in 8th grade who later snapped in high school. She had convinced a group of 5 other people to commit to a plan to weld the high school doors shut and burn people with a home made flamethrower and shoot people."
"The morning of the planned day someone was tipped off and the cops called. The school went on lockdown for 6-7 hours and they found the girl's parents taped up and stabbed a crazy number of times in their closet of their home. This was 3 years after my brother dated her."
- JoeZMar
Idiot
Idiot Reaction GIFGiphy"Nothing as brutal as some of the other storied but about half way through the day once a guy was spotted walking across our sports field with a rifle, Everyone was kept in classes for about an hour? Turns out it was some idiot looking for the nearby shooting range and accidentally stumbled onto school grounds."
Clearly, we need therapists and guards in school around the clock. And a grief counselor for life would probably do everyone a world of good.
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Most bullies never have a problem permeating their ignorance and rage until it hits them close to home. This is why parents need to be brought into the conversation much sooner. No parent wants to raise a little sociopath that will bring shame to the family. And bullies sometimes need to see for themselves through the eyes of a loved one the damage they can cause.
sassy taraji p henson GIFYou're the dumb one...
Similar thing happened to me. I was complaining to my family about kids in my class who couldn't read and did an impression of their terrible reading, sounding out "the" with a stutter. I said they were dumb as rocks. I thought I was being funny, and my parents were like "that is actually really horrible, don't ever say crap like that again."
Sins of the past...
One day, after school, I was watching two bullies chasing their usual victim, and I had this weird moment of clarity. I could see everything that was about to happen, and that, if I moved to stand in a certain position, he'd have nowhere to run and they'd catch him. It was like some sort of weird pack instinct. So I cut him off, they caught him, and... I got this weird euphoric feeling. Didn't involve myself any further. Just walked away, felt like I was floating the whole way home.
And, when I got home, I was so stoked that I just excitedly spilled the whole thing to my mother. Turned out she was bullied at school. Thing is, I knew that. If I'd been thinking, I'd have known she'd be pissed, but I was just... Out of it. I was so damn pleased with myself that it didn't even occur to me that somebody might have a problem with what I did.
becoming...
When I realized I was becoming my father whom I loathe. I realized that I was taking my pain out on the person closest to me to feel in control. When I realized people were leaving my life, that is when I began to make the changes through mostly therapy AND analyzing what I need to feel in control (a better financial situation in my case and discontinuing a relationship with my father). I feel great now and treat everyone as best I can with respect.
Just like the saying says... "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." And in these situations, someone will always be hurt. And a bully won't understand what they inflict until they themselves are inflicted.
"this girl"
I've said this story before but back in Secondary School, a group of us would bully this one kid anyways one day a we decided we would catfish him via MSN after a while he and "this girl" decided to meet up, it gets to that day and obviously we are waiting for him at the local cinema and as we are going down the escalator to the meeting point I spot him with some flowers and chocolate just waiting.
I have never felt so awful about anything in my life so I went and came clean to him about everything and apologised, spent the rest of the day talking to him and now about 20 years later he is one of my oldest and closest friends and I've not seen or heard from the other group since we left school.
There are always specific people that will haunt us all, even those people who taunted and traumatized others. Everybody has a somebody that somehow left a mark on their person or their soul. It maybe the person you scorched the most or the one who brought karma full circle. Either way you can't out run an impact. The next group know this all too well.
Gleeful
Santana Lopez Smile GIFGiphyThis is dumb, but watching Glee and relating too much to Santana. It would be like: "Wow, what a horrible person, how can she say... oh, I've said that... I've said and done WORSE than that. Damn."
For me it was kind of opposite. Watching Glee and relating too much to Rachel. That was more like "oh, so that's why everyone in school hated me."
I'm Awful
There was a friend of mine, we talk a lot on discord. Then one time he vented up to me and said that he was harassing one of his neighbors, stuff like blackmailing, and verbal bullying. He said that he was just having fun. After some time, he haven't seeing him around. He just got the news that his neighbor committed suicide.
The parent doesn't know why, it was only my friend who knows.
When I was talking to him that time, I was getting some red flags that he might also harm himself. I told him to go to a psychiatrist or some professional who can help. A year had past and he seemed like he have changed a lot.
A kid named Charles...
When I was in the 5th grade (mid 70's), I was an Army brat. A kid named Charles used to try to frequently beat me up. Once even kicked me in the nuts in Sunday school. One day, said he was gonna beat me up after school. I tried to hide, but he "escorted" me off school property.
Another kid named Herman bodily picked Charles up and said "Run aecarol1, I can't hold him long." I managed to evade him that day.
One day a few weeks later he came to my door and asked if I could come out. Very warily I did, but we just hung out. Things changed with him, but I have no idea what. We were never close, but he never bothered me again.
I suspect my dad spoke with his dad, but I'll never know as my dad passed more than 20 years ago. I hope he turned out okay. The fact he sought me out and we just hung out for a couple hours did a lot for me and restored a bit of my faith in the idea people can improve.
I will forever be grateful to Herman, he literally saved my butt that day.
The Bigger Fish
big fish GIFGiphyNot me but in my old middle school when I was a seventh grader I had P.E. class which was all mixed up with boys from different grades.
So while we were in the locker room an 8th grader took a crap inside this 6th grader's backpack while he took a shower. I'm talking both clothes and school materials were in the backpack. Apparently the 6th grader had bullied the 8th grader's sister who was in 6th as well, so he did it for revenge. Many guys, including myself saw as he took the backpack to the bathroom to poop on it.
I thought the guy was just joking but minutes later sum kid comes out telling the coach that there is a backpack with poop in the bathroom. Poor Chap had to stand around in the towel for his mom to bring him new clothes and school materials. Ig the lesson here is for bullies, that there is always a Bigger Fish.
Be kind y'all. It literally costs absolutely nothing to smile politely at a stranger. Hold open a door for the elderly. Compliment someone who is struggling and trying. In the long run being a hateful, mean spirited blowhard costs your soul more than anything else. Everyone is just trying to survive, so help them.
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