Bulling

     Seeing as bulling made my school life more difficult than it should have been, I'm surprised at myself that I haven't said anything about this yet.
     I don't know whether its because I see myself as coming from a loving, nurturing home, or whether I am just a general 'good person', but I can honestly say that I have never understood why people feel the need to belittle others to make themselves feel better. Don't get me wrong, I've teased members of my family and extremely close friends about trivial stuff until the cows have come home, but I think when it comes to something like this, I don't think there is the "thin line" between what is acceptable and what isn't. Saying to some you know well, "Boy, you certainly put on a few pounds over the holidays" is a lot different to saying "OMG, look how fat you are".
     The main concern I have with bullying is that those who are the bully never realise how damaging they can really be. I have to be honest, I think I coped with it though school fairly well, considering the amount of kids that get picked on for a few weeks, and then say they want to top themselves. I'm glad I never got to that stage. Bulling affected me by making extremely cynical about every other person on this planet. I went though a phase where I thought my friends were just my friends because they felt sorry for me. It made me doubt who I was as a person. I couldn't understand how peers could treat me so badly, when I'd probably never even uttered two words to them. I was always the weird kid at school, the one who was eccentric, extremely quiet, and wouldn't say boo to a fly. Prime target.
     The problem really started when I reached secondary school. Sure, there was one boy who was mean to me in Primary School, but I soon put a stop to that one by biting his arm so hard that he had the scar for at least ten years (and may even be visible now). Secondary School was just year after year of being bullied. Even up until the age of 18, I'd still be picked on from time to time, still due to my shyness and lack of confidence, but I'd say for the years I was 13 to 16 were the worst, the time where live growing up as a teenager is hard enough.
     Studying behaviour analysis right now, if I were to go back in time, I could probably tell my past self how to stop the bulling without having to physically hurting someone to get them to stop, but then again, a few other absolutely ignorant people laughing at the bullies taunts would be a hard thing to tackle. Seriously though, on this one occasion, in some circumstances, I would say that violence is the answer. After being shouted at numerous times, as well as having your parents informed exactly how you are treating other pupils, and your still bullying me, then I'm sorry, but all the physical pain I've dealt to those who have bullied me in the past, will never match the hurt they caused me back then.
     One girl got a particularly nice bruise on her arm after I told her at least ten times to stop or "she would be sorry". She had her chance. Or a boy who I happened to throw my pencil case at, and hit a very tender area, again after I told him to stop it a good couple of times. He had it coming.
     As with every bad situation in life, you have to make some light of it. Bullying for me has made me realise that I shouldn't care what other people think of me. If I want to dress like a character from a Tim Burton movie, or that I'd rather play games than go get a fake tan, or that I want to listen to that music, then I will. It's also made me feel like a strong, resilient person, who can take crap for ages, but will dish out what you deserve eventually.
     I guess the best thing that I took away from being bullied is to make the best of myself that I possibly can, but most importantly, do better in life than those lowlifes that made your life a living hell for a while. It's nice to see now, that at 21, all those people who had bullied me something chronic in the past don't have the life that I have. They have been too busy trying to make those who are already better than them feel bad about themselves.