Bullying
I have thought long and hard about this post and find it a little difficult to write but feel I have to.

When I was at secondary school I was severely bullied to the point where on a couple of occasions I even considered suicide and for one term I even slept (it was a boarding school) with a switch blade under my pillow because it had got to a point where I would have used it. For me it was a terrible part of my life hiding in class rooms during breaks, Eating alone being terrified where ever I went that I was about to be jumped (which happened a lot). What makes me angry is when I hear people saying things like "It builds character" or "Its just kids having fun", crap. It can be absolutely soul destroying to a child, In my case I feel that if it had not been for my friends out of school I probably would be dead now. Yes I know that all sounds a little mellow dramatic but it's unfortunately true, I don't think my friends will ever know how close it came.

The problem is that you feel there is no way out, You tell a teacher it just makes it worse, You tell your parents and they tell the school, Same outcome and of course your told to rise above it, there not worth it. My feeling is that if I had actually beat the shit out of them it probably would have been better but I would have been the one to be expelled.
There are hundreds of suicide's a year that have a root cause of bullying and yet there are still kids who suffer in silence and parents who refuse to act if there kids are found to be bullies.

Now the reason for this post is to say to anyone out there who is being bullied To tell your teachers, Tell your parents, tell your friends, It may get worse before it gets better but it will get better and you wont be alone any longer. I got through it not because it made me a stronger person but because I could separate myself from it and I had a shear bloody mindedness not to let it happen to me again, But it is not easy. It is also to say to any parents who don't act when they are told there kids are bullies or defend there kids with pathetic excuses, Try living up to your responsibilities and deal with it because your kids are ruining peoples lives.
- posted by J @ 19:00