Dear Bully,
I know you. I know you too well. You lurk everywhere I go. You seem to be waiting to pounce.
Why?
Why do you feel the need to degrade others and make them feel bad about themselves?
Is it that I am not good enough? Is it that you feel you aren’t?
Why?
Who has made you feel less than? Who has hurt you to the point that makes you feel the need to hurt others in order to feel better about yourself?
I will help.
I may be an adult but I have experienced bullying in elementary school. I was bullied a lot in fact, about my weight, about my music choices, about anything really.
Want to know what I did?
I did the wrong thing.
For a short time, at school, I picked on others to build myself up. I so badly didn’t want to be bullied at that time in my life, that being the bully seemed right to me.
It wasn’t the right thing. AT ALL.
Did it really make me feel any better? NO.
Did it make others stop bullying me? NO.
Did it teach me a life lesson? YES.
I am 27 years old and I still dream of being back in school, being picked on relentlessly. I wake up and remember how that made me feel. I want to be a better person. EACH and EVERY day.
I try to be understanding and helpful. I am NOT a bully.
Bullying isn’t just physical, it’s mental, it’s emotional. Bullying is not limited to school. Adults are bullies too. They should know better, but they don’t.
Bullying doesn’t do anything but harm others. It doesn’t make you feel better… and it certainly doesn’t make you better in general. In fact, it makes you into something you are not; a bad person.
You can do better. You can be better. You ARE better.
That person you are picking on? Yeah, they may have just lost their Father.
That lady that lives down the street that you spread rumors about? She is in the middle of a divorce.
That girl you are throwing things at in class? Yeah, her Mother is mean to her at home.
Sometimes, people just hit their breaking point. Sometimes, being bullied isn’t the cause of the sadness, it’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Dear Bully, Please tell me; why are you so sad?