Not Necessary to read. Just needed to get it out here.
Bullying is real. Most adults can’t see it or don’t want to. They might say “Kids will be kids”, or something else. But when bullying goes unpunished or unnoticed; some kids don’t get to be kids. Every 7 seconds a kid is bullied. That means almost 9 kids are bullied every minute, 540 each hour, and 12,960 each day. If you do the math; 4,730,400 kids are bullied every year. Most of this goes unnoticed, and less than 50 percent of kids who are bullied will actually report it. The kids who do the bullying may say things such as, “Go kill yourself” or “Why are you even alive? No one likes you”. These things can be said all kinds of ways. In person, over the phone, through text, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Skype, etc.; cyber-bullying is also a very serious issue. The problem is that these kids don’t know that what they’re saying will be taken to heart by whoever they’re saying it to. They might think that the victim will ignore it; they’re wrong. From my experience with bullying; it never goes away. I was bullied in elementary school. People would shove me, yell insults at me, and even hit me. Most people obviously assume that they’re kids and I must’ve been overreacting. New flash; that’s why no one reports bullying. Almost all adults see bullying as no big deal and assume that their children are exaggerating. And sometimes will even call the child who is doing the bullying’s parents. This never helps the situation.I was bullied even worse in middle school. Specifically 6th and 7th grade. The worst part is that I wasn’t just bullied by the kids; I was bullied by the parents and other adults at or involved with the school. In 6th grade, we all had email accounts on FirstClass that was for schoolwork only. Since we were kids we obviously weren’t going to listen. So I socially emailed on that network with two guys who both liked me, and a girl who claimed to be my best friend. We got in trouble for emailing on that network. The teachers could see every email sent; and there were some nasty ones between those two boys. So the principal called us in for a meeting. We all got in trouble and were warned to stop social email on that network or consequences would have to be faced. So I stopped. I can understand getting in trouble for that, but everything that came after was completely absurd.I got over my bullying in elementary school mostly because I was taught that it didn’t really matter. But I was still sad about my past. As a young child I learned that I was adopted, and my mother was dead. Anyways, this girl who I called my best friend turned out to be an enemy. She told the principal that I was beating her up; which was completely wrong. Since I cam from public school, and this was a private school, the code of conduct was obviously completely different. My friends and I used to smack each other around, and still do. In public school it really doesn’t matter unless you actually hurt the person; which I didn’t. But this private school didn’t care about what I had to say. When I was brought into the principal’s office I wasn’t given a chance to share my side of the story; I was immediately told how bad it was and asked why I did it. I never even thought that this would happen, mostly because I’m a gentle, sensitive person. I may be loud and obnoxious, but I’m no bully. So I was suspended for “every one else’s safety.” My parents knew this was crazy. But we were new, and we learned that this particular family ruled the school. In 7th grade I laid low, making sure nothing I did could get me in trouble. But because of everything that happened in 6th grade, I was an outcast. The kids treated me differently and going to school was difficult. That’s when I started self-harm. I would take a knife and cut my thumbs at first, because I thought it wasn’t noticeable. I also began starving myself because I was sick of being called fat and ugly. My parents noticed but it wasn’t that big of a deal at first. But when I went to school kids made fun of my anorexia. I still wouldn’t eat. And to throw my parents off, I would eat at home and throw it up while they were asleep. I made it possible to suffer from bulimia and anorexia at the same time. And then my cutting got worse. I began to cut my arms; and that’s when the principal caught me. I talked to a few people about it; biggest mistake ever. Someone tipped the principal off every time I opened my mouth. And sometimes people would tell her that I showed them my scars when they just saw them. But she didn’t care, my side of the story didn’t matter. I was suspended again and my parents came down on me this time. I was taken to a therapist, but I didn’t want to talk. When I went back, I still talked about my cutting. But only to a few people. And it still got progressively worse. Eventually after being bullied or ignored at school, I couldn’t take it. I’d thought about killing myself before, but never how or when. One day I was home alone and I took a bunch of pills. I didn’t know what or how many; I just did it. It didn’t work, it just made me really sick. But I told my close friends about it and told them that I just didn’t want to live anymore. The principal obviously found out, and I was put in the nurse’s office for the entire day. They called my mom and around noon she came to get me. She wasn’t allowed to come see me; she had to talk to the principal first. The principal said that my mom was to take me to a hospital immediately and not bring me back until after I had been “cleared” to go back to school. Which my mom never did. She just took me home and talked to me. She knew that something was different about me. I almost always wanted to stay home from school, and on the weekends I didn’t want to go do anything. For the most part, I stayed in bed all day every day. So I switched to public school. And so many people will tell you that public school is worse than private school; they’re wrong. No one was mean to me, I was friends with almost everyone, and even though my depression didn’t just go away; it got a lot better.
SarahL