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Most likely, everyone has had a bully in
their past. Some use their experiences to grow as an individual,
while others hold them against their oppressor.
Whenever I had a bully, I forgave them as quickly as possible,
but some situations were harder than others. I decided to
try to be the bigger person and be as much unlike them as
possible, so that I wouldn't hurt someone else as much as
they had hurt me. Hopefully I made a good impact on someone
else's life, because it was one of the only ways that I could
overcome my anger. Bullies can be conquered; all it takes
is a little courage, patience, and forgiveness.
While growing up, I was never popular.
I've always been accepted by most of my peers, but was by
no means the top of the social food chain. The seventh grade
was one of the worst years for me due to one boy I'll call
Craig. One of Craig's main problems was that he yearned for
attention, but mainly only attracted negative attention. He
knew practically every cuss word in the book, and wasn't afraid
to use it. Craig's main victims were girls like me who were
kind of timid and whose feelings could be hurt fairly easily.
When he knew that I fell under this category, he didn't waste
any time trying to make me as miserable as possible.
When my experiences with Craig began, I
had been laying out our class's reading logs and handed his
to him. The idea that I would even touch his belongings obviously
disgusted him to no end, and he let me know it, along with
a string of unpleasant words. I tried to stay calm, but I
was heartbroken that anyone would do that to me and I began
to cry. I shouldn't have done this because it showed him he
could get under my skin very easily, so the torture continued
until my parents and I had the principal get involved. After
the principal talked with each of us, Craig eventually became
less of a tormenter. Seventh grade ended, and I haven't seen
him since.
Because of these experiences, I strongly
believe that people need to think before they speak or act
to avoid conflict with others. If they disregard the differences
between their enemies, then their enemies could become friends.
I wish that people would try to consider everyone as their
equal instead of thinking that they are better than everyone
around them. If everyone had that attitude, then there would
probably be less violence and the whole community could work
together as a team.
Now, as I interact with those who
I associate with, I try to guard my tongue so that I don't
hurt others' feelings as mine were once hurt. I cannot control
others' actions, but I can control my own. I've also learned
that if you can't solve things on your own, someone who cares
about you will always be there to back you up. I may not have
enjoyed the encounters with Craig at the time, but I'm glad
that I did so that I could become stronger as an individual.
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