I have touched on the subject a lot but never really wrote too much about it in-depth. Seeing as it is "Anti-bullying week" (14th November) and seeing as it feels like it's the time for me to write about it, here we go:-
First of all, I'd just like to point out that I do not want to promote violence and fighting or anything like that.
It is not an easy life when you're being bullied. The feeling of loneliness that may stem from it can almost be too much to cope with.
But if there is anyone out there who is being bullied then don't stand for it. I know it is so much easier said than done but you have to stand up for yourself. If it's verbal, you can always say something back-not something that will anger them as such, but just something that shows what they think doesn't matter to you. If it is physical, there is no point just standing there getting beat up. You might as well try and fight back. Even if there are about 50 of them. If you can get a good smack in just one of their faces, it will make you feel less like shit afterwards. If you go down fighting, they might not bother with you again. If you don't go down fighting, then not only will you be feeling like shit afterwards, but you'll be wishing you had done something. And then they will always come back as they know you're an easy target. Do not make yourself an easy target. Even the stupidest of idiots will realise that if they go to beat someone up and they fight back, that they might themselves have a chance of getting hurt.
I know that there is a hell of a lot of bullying going on and a hell of a lot of people who take it and suffer in silence. They end up suffering in silence for so long that them being afraid and scared becomes part of their life. It becomes who they are. It becomes normal for them to go outside their door and worry that they might bump into one of their bullies. Nobody should live their lives in fear like this. There have been people, children included who have committed suicide due to the fact that they are being bullied. If you have the stomach for it then please read:-
http://www.addicted.com/forums/posts/9156/1/Bullying-makes-too-many-kids-commit-suicide
Apparently 8% of all teenagers try to commit suicide because they are being bullied.
I, myself was bullied for about 4 years of my school life by an army of Pakistanis. At first, I would pretty much be shitting it going to school everyday for about 3 of those years. There were too many of them and they knew I was an easy target because I didn't say or do anything back. I was too sacred. The main entrance of the school would be horded, as would the back entrance of the school . You just had to hope you could somehow could avoid those hordes and sneak past or that they wouldn't be bored that day and would have something to do other then to attack me. Most of the time, this wasn't the case.
Teachers were useless when it came to solving the matter. There were altogether about 100 of these bullies (this is no exaggeration) and there was one of me. It came to a point where I had gotton into a fight with a different one of them once a week at the very least. Once it was 3 times in a week. Each one of those was reported to the Head of Science for some reason. The 3rd time, he said "Mukesh. You again." It was like he was implying that it was somehow my fault. At the time, it didn't seem to register with him that maybe I was the victim. Even actual victims are well known to blame themselves for being bullied. I guess it would be easy to blame just one person rather than 100 animals. They weren't humans. Humans have emotions, but then so do animals. These bastards were something else. I remember after the 3rd fight that week, when I was once again in the office, I was crying. Not because I was aching anywhere but I think that I was just mentally exhausted and was so tired. It killed me that I was in tears while one of the bastards was sat next to me. The twat at the time got a long detention. That is one hour having to stay behind after school. One lousy fucking hour. I remember seeing this particular person repeatedly physically sexually harassing a girl. I am ashamed of myself to this day that I didn't do anything. Again. I was too scared.
I really wouldn't have minded as much if it was 1 on 1. That's fair. If you lose, you can say, well, that was a fair fight. I lost. The better man won. But when it as at least 6 or more on 1, then it does get more like- "Fucking cowards are too scared to fight on their own." This is what they are. Cowards. There were now and again times where I would see one of them on their own. They wouldn't even come near me, nevermind say or do anything. Apart from one time where one of them made out he was going to go after me and I took my bag and my coat off and threw them on the floor and then the coward crossed the road!
It got to the point where when I was going to lesson, I would have to watch out for any of them. People who don't know me that may read this might be like "But why? Why would they do this?" I was Indian, they were Pakistani. No other reason. They were inbred (not me making fun of them, they actually were) and I am not.
A couple of my friends had a theory that they were jealous of me. It still wasn't enough of a reason.
In my 4th year of school, I started getting a bit wiser in the fact that, when I would leave home to go to school, I would always go late. I would skip registration and would go straight to first lesson. The teachers knew that I would refuse to go through the hordes of inbreded cowards and risk danger to myself so my form tutor would always mark me in. I would always be marked down as late though. My attendance was amazing. My punctuality wasn't. I didn't mind about that though as long as I was safe. I was always the first one to class.
I know that it doesn't just happen in schools. After I left school and went to college, there were a few there and I got jumped once on my way home. The police did their usual thing of writing it down in a notebook and then doing sod all about it. I remember the next day I thought to myself that no way was I going to go through college life like I did my school life. So I took a hammer on my way to college for a while. Stupid thing to do and when my mum saw me, she said I could go to jail. I just replied that they were not going to hurt me ever again. Neither of my parents ever understood the horror I was actually going through. Strangely enough I didn't see any of them for a few weeks. There was a real sick part of me that wanted to bump into them whilst I had my hammer. Would I even have it in me to use it??
Then whilst at college I worked part-time in a horrid cake factory that was also full of them. I ended up getting stabbed in the hand with a pallet knife. 2 of them got sacked. Then I ended up leaving that job.
Anyway, bullying can happen anywhere and there are many forms of it. School, college, work and even home. ANYWHERE. Do not stand for it! There are plenty of people to talk to:-
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&cp=25&gs_id=2m&xhr=t&q=who+to+talk+to+about+bullying&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=who+to+talk+to+
Also the NSPCC and there are also recovery centres including this in The UK:-
http://www.redballoonlearner.co.uk/about.htm
which are there to help someone that had been bullied in the past and not letting that trauma affect you for the rest of your life.
There are many forms of bullying. Physical, racial, verbal, emotional, sexual. If you feel like you are being subjected to any of this, then put a stop to it. You have to be mentally strong otherwise the bullies will win. Bullies are people who don't give a damn about their victims and how they might be scarring them.
This is a great interview with a victim (who also ended up doing Performing Arts like I did) that I found:-
http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2011/03/interview-with-a-bullying-victim/
There was a thing I saw in a magazine where victims of bullies years later tracked their bullies down to interview them and ask the bullies why and how they felt about it now etc. I purposely didn't read these interviews as I was afraid that at the end of each one, the bullies would apologise and the victims would accept it. It might seem like the wrong thing to do to not accept apologies if they were given but there would be no way that I would accept any apologies if it was me. But that's just me. Like I said earlier, these particular bastards had no emotions anyway.
Nobody has to go through anything like this anywhere or anytime. There are always going to be cruel cowards everywhere in the world. Nothing is ever going to change that. Even though it didn't work with me, you can talk with people. There are a ton of sites on the internet you can look at. Phone someone. Talk to someone in person. DON'T keep it to yourself. DON'T blame yourself. DON'T listen to what the bullies tell you to do. DON'T be scared. Even though it is difficult to do this. You can use your own fear against them. Remember that you are the better person. DON'T let the bullies win.
