If there is one thing I can't stand, its a bully. Maybe "bully" isn't even the correct word for it anymore. No I didnt just finish watching "Mean Girls", but I just finished reading an article referring to this kind of behavior. What is it about kids/teenagers that make them do these awful things to each other and not think twice? The author of Woman's Inhumanity to Woman, Phyllis Chesler-MD, recounts a story of one of her patients:
At 13, Kelsey hung with a pack of five girls in her Washington parochial school. Now 20, she recalls in vivid detail the day her pals took her behind the chapel and handed her a note.
"They made it seem like something good, like an invitation or something," she says. "They were smiling. I opened it and it was written in all different colors of inks and handwriting, saying we don't want to be your friend, don't look at us, don't call us, don't come near us. Everyone put it a different way -- they all wrote it."
What is it that possesses kids to do such things? I never had any experiences with bullies or mean girls in highschool or in grade school so I can't really share any first hand experiences, but it must be an awful thing to deal with. I remember in 8th grade there was this girl in our class who was "unpopular". She definitely went through an awkward stage, but who of us didnt? Anyways, she was constantly bothered by the guys in our class. For Christmas, our school did this little market type thing where the kids can buy cheap gifts for their families. Well they had some dog treats for kids to buy for the family pet, but instead, the guys thought it would be funny to buy a whole bunch of dog biscuits a leave them on the girls desk. So mean. I realize thats nothing compared to what some kids go through. This other boy in my grade school class was real quiet and shy and had the most beautiful eyelashes I had ever seen on a guy. Well the guys in my class of course made fun of that, and a few days later I walked into a classroom where I saw him with scissors up to his eyes, trying to cut his eyelashes. It was just so sad. The worst part is that I guess you really dont know how stuff like this affects a kid unless you talk to them. My friends and I found out that 3 years later this boy killed himself.
Even after all this, people still say "its just kids being kids". Well guess what, its not. I never acted like that, my friends didnt act like that--its a shitty excuse. Oh and that main ringleader of "boys" that was involved in bullying both of the kids I mentioned is now in jail for murder. If that doesn't give people a clue, I dont know what will.
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