I got picked on verbally and occasionally. I guess it was because I looked like a huge nerd and didn't really talk to the popular ones but I always got along with most people. I do hold a grudge for certain people out there, wishing they get hit by car because they have gotten worse as time goes by and now they're involved in politics which drives me absolutely mad.
I think this last part is funny because it reminds me of something I have read on bullying. Basically it found that bullies were rarely the stereotypical mean kid. The kid with the abusive and or neglectful father figure who simply put him down at every turn now does unto others as his father does to him. Yeah, I'm sure some exist, but mostly they were the rich kids, the kids with great families, the kids who were good at everything and popular. Some studies even believed that victims almost preceived the whole crowd of "popular" kids who generally fit that description I just gave were
all bullying them, even though it may have been one or two. So yeah, basically it concluded a lot of kids who become super successful, in fact may have been bullies at one time (not all, but it did find many bullies to graduate into successful people). Of course now we found out the Romney has done this to another student.
I think this is probably definitely true of the bullies who are not really all that physical. Most of the guys who picked on me in middle school, ironically, are really all worse off than me right now. There's only one I can't say for certain whether he is or is not. I have no meaningful contact with him, but he definitely
looks kind of ugly, weird and a little fat now (but I've heard he's married so I guess that didn't stop him or anything).
True. And this is exactly why I get angry when people try to pin the blame of bullying solely on the school system. Yes it is wrong when teachers and other school officials allow children to be picked on. Schools that allow this should be held accountable. But for your child to be on the brink of committing suicide and you don't even notice that something might be up? That certainly points to issues in the home as well.
I think where I'm always feel like people take it too far is when they want to say the bully is responsible for a suicide. Suicide, in my opinion, is really not any kind of response to a bully. You're supposed to be under your parents care until your eighteen at least (in my opinion) and parents have to be aware enough of their children to see those kinds of emotional problems. Or if they don't, they simply don't invest enough time in them.
Sh**, sometimes I feel parents are more emotionally invested in their f***ing dogs (and I love dogs). They'll know when Fido is not feeling himself because Fido emotional signals don't result in awkward conversations with their teenager.
Suicide is rarely a spur of the moment decision. Suffering from anxiety/depression myself, I see the signals first hand, and while they can be different for different people if you're close you can see the difference. Also, I think there is a false assumption that the bully is the only thing that could've triggered that suicide. Often suicide is a multi-factoral thing. Parents who are neglectful of their kids can definitely cause a lot of grief to their children, and hurt their social development. So all of the sudden a bully they could've handled becomes a problem because the parents offer no emotional support.
One of the problems, I think with anti-bully school involvement is bullies are everywhere. Just because the school hypothetically stops all bullying, what about bullying at home? bullies in the neighborhood? bullies at other schools?
