When I was in seventh grade, my “best” friend decided that
she no longer wanted to be friends with me because I was not part of the cool
crowd. She wanted to be more popular so she wrote me a “Dear John” letter
telling me that we were no longer friends. She gave it to me at school and I
remember crying while reading this letter and feeling so rejected. The cool
crowd was a very mean group of girls who teased me all the time about my
clothes, my hair, and my glasses, basically anything. I tried so hard to ignore
them through middle school. I almost dropped out of school in eighth grade
because it was so bad. As I got older, I always remembered that feeling and
never wanted to hurt anyone that way. When I got to high school and we moved to
a different school district, I had lots of friends in all grades. I had a group
of wonderful friends in my class who were not judgmental and accepted me for
who I was.
As an adult, I think I am a person who people can reach out
and talk to. I have passed this on to my daughter especially because these
situations do not seem to be going away. I suppose in a way, my experience was
about being bullied. I did not talk to anyone about it so it so I should have
stepped up and said something. I was not one who liked confrontation so I just
tried to hide and not do anything to draw attention to myself. Those middle school years were very painful and
I have very few memories that are happy. I remember how those words and actions hurt me
and decided I had to move on and not let it become an excuse.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about the bad experience from middle school but I am happy you were strong and became an adult who inspires your classmates! I wonder if children who discriminate and bully other children have self-esteem issues. If so, I think teachers in early education can and must help each child become aware of his or her strengths and educate the parents to do so too.
Aya