Wednesday, May 15, 2013

 We have received our second "Tell Us Your Story" submission.
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TELL US YOUR STORY #2:

What it it about Junior High School that made bullies so interested in me? Is there a bully hormone? Or is it just puberty?

I remember one kid, smaller than me, thinner, too. He used to spit. I think he spit at every kid in the seventh and eighth grades. He would stand in the school bus on the seat and spit at kids as they walked underneath him. I go it right in the eye one day. Of course, he and his friends laughed. I wasn't allowed to spit. I wasn't allowed to fight. I remember being given stern orders: "Don't spit! That's disgusting!" and "Don't fight! What are you an animal?" In the back of my head I can still hear those lines being repeated. What was I supposed to do when this little kid spit at me? Can't spit back. Can't fight. Okay, let it go. I remember thinking that this kid must have been raised in a zoo or that he was raised like an animal because I wasn't allowed to spit or fight. Didn't he have anyone to tell him what was right and what was wrong?

Is that what bullying was or is really about? They do it because they've never been told that they can't or that they shouldn't do something. Didn't their parents care if people thought they were disgusting or that they were animals raised in a zoo?

I didn't ask for help. The bus driver was on the bus when the kid was spitting out the window. Nothing was said. The Teacher on bus duty was on the sidewalk as we all walked to our buses. Nothing was said. Other kids laughed at what's going on - "better someone else than them."

My resolution to the problem came when I started walking home from school. It wasn't that far. If I avoided the bus, then I avoided the disgusting animal raised in a zoo that spits on everyone.

When it rained? I took the bus and got spit on or I walked in the rain.

When it snowed? Walking home in the snows was always fun. "

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