Bullying
By angel_smiles
@Lolaze (5093)
St. Louis, Missouri
August 6, 2015 2:45pm CST
Bullying is rampant these days, but it was also a huge issue when I was a kid in the 90's - it just wasn't talked about. At the Catholic school I attended for four years, I was bullied horribly. It all came to a head during 3rd grade. It started with one of the girls making the sign of the cross and calling me "Evil One".
She would chant, 'Be gone, Evil One. You are no fun", while using her fingers to make a cross. This went on for a few months, with all the girls in my grade saying I was evil and possessed by the Devil. Things culminated during the spring of that year when all the girls knocked me down, carried me to a bee infested bathroom, and locked me inside. It was a miracle I made it out after 10 minutes without being stung. None of the girls were punished and I transferred to the public school the next year.
All of the bullying did a number on my self esteem. I hardly spoke in school for fear of being made fun of. I had a lisp which made it very easy for others to laugh at me. After the incident in 3rd grade, I started to fail classes and fall behind in school for the first time. I started getting F's in 4th and 5th grade. To this day, I'm very self conscious and easily embarrassed. Overall - the bullying had a profound impact on my life.
8 people like this
8 responses
@inertia4 (27961)
• United States
6 Aug 15
Bullying is a major issue in schools. It seems that the schools just don't want to bother doing anything. My son had an issue with this other kid, and even his grandmother said that her grandson was not right in the head. But the school did nothing. They just don't want to bother. I told my son that if anything else happens to let me know. I would have went there with a baseball bat. I would have gotten results. But nothing else happened since.
3 people like this
@sparkofinsanity (20471)
• Regina, Saskatchewan
6 Aug 15
I remember the bullying of those Catholic school days very well! I can so identify with what you went through. Right up until I turned 50 and met a man who understood me completely (my current hubs) my self esteem hovered around zero. And finally I could stop pretending to be stronger and more confident than I actually was. Now I truly am the confident person I pretended for so long to be. I hope sweets, that your fiance can do the same for you. We all deserve to be the best of ourselves!
As for bullying..........we are making great strides in combating it, but it will always be a social factor and how sad is that?
3 people like this
@Dawwriter (246)
• Pakistan
9 Aug 15
I am so sorry to hear this. But you must try to put the past behind you. Those girls were mean and you should not let their behaviour stop you from being happy .
@sabtraversa (12924)
• Italy
7 Aug 15
I'm sorry to hear that. It's disgusting, especially for a "Catholic" school, to allow such behavior.
I'm too young to talk and my experiences with bullying aren't that bad, but I still struggle with self esteem. I was probably an outcast because of my character and family condition.
Parents and teachers had always blamed me, as I had to care about studying and not about what others said or did. But it's hard for us social beings to ignore others.
@phoonk (341)
• India
6 Aug 15
I felt so bad reading your post. Luckily, I have no such experience till date. These things should be taught to the students by parents at home itself; I mean not to annoy other fellow students. Please try to forget and get your self confidence back.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (62120)
• United States
7 Aug 15
I was bullied in school as well, with even the teachers getting in on the act (my first grade teacher smacked me on the knuckles and ordered me to "put that pencil in your right hand wehre it belongs"). Thankfully, my parents had instilled in me a sense of self-worth, so by the time the bullies in school started on me I was able to withstand it.
One thing that bothers me, however, is that adults continue to participate in bullying, calling those who don't believe in their religion or their political candidate "morons," "idiots," etc. We were supposed to have outgrown the childish behavior.
2 people like this
@Koravie (10)
• Lucknow, India
7 Aug 15
Not only that, but the use of social network forums to bully people bothers me a lot. Everyday I come across at least one meme or a joke on a celebrity's intelligence which instantly goes viral on Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp.
What I don't understand is how come people just make assumptions about their intelligence based on one goof up, when I'm sure each one makes embarrassing mistakes each day. Its a sort of double standard, and the poor person is mocked and bullied by an entire social network community, and he can't do anything about it because he/she gave himself up to public scrutiny.
3 people like this
@cherigucchi (14879)
• Philippines
7 Aug 15
This has been also happening in the internet or social media. There must be something to be done there
