The stories I hear are altogether familiar: achingly, painfully familiar.
Kids being ostracized because they lack social (or athletic) skills. Kids being made fun of because of their clothes, looks, or disability. Kids being pushed, shoved, called nasty names, or threatened with violence.
Believe me, I have heard them all. For you see, I was bullied as a child.
I was bullied by some of the kids in my neighborhood because I was the only Mexican-American in my immediate area. Everybody else was white or black. And my parents didn't speak English: I had to often act as their translator, so they could navigate through their day. I had to grow up before my time and I felt responsible for them. It was a pain.
Eventually, though, my parents did learn English (thanks to ESL classes), and I showed the kids what I was capable of doing when I graduated as the second best student in the school I had been attending (one below class validictorian). I went to college and got my degree in helping elementary and middle-school aged kids with their problems; I was a licensed child psychologist.
It was hard, all that schooling, but in the end, it's been worth it because it's given me a new confidence I didn't realize I had. And now I am helping kids who are going through the exact same thing I did as a child. If I can make a difference in one child's life, then all that school will have been worth it. I want to make a difference in young people's lives, and I often share with them my story, to show them that a.) I care, and b.) they certainly aren't alone.
My motto is this: You CAN win. You CAN overcome bullying. I did it, and so can you. And I will do everything possible to make that happen in your lives. May God bless all those who are struggling with bullying and know that this can't (and won't) last forever. This, too, shall pass, and your lives CAN get better if you get the help (and the tools) needed to overcome the hurts of the past. I'm living proof of what doesn't kill you definitely makes you stronger! :)
