The Midget and The Giant | Teen Ink

The Midget and The Giant

October 10, 2013
By Brooklynnealise Edley BRONZE, Lewisville, Texas
Brooklynnealise Edley BRONZE, Lewisville, Texas
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Growing up as a child who was below the average weight and height seemed hard enough. Add on withholding a doctorate in the art of being clumsy and a masters degree in being the one contradiction of your race, one could understand why I never got along with my stereotypical classmates. The cherry on top was that I was a teacher’s kid ...by the double. The result, an Oreo who is doubled stuff with cream. I became a mute midget deemed with the title of being incapable of learning.

Being a teacher's kid meant that my parents had a choice of where I could go to school. They decided that I should go to the same school that they taught at, which resided in Dallas, although I lived in Lewisville. As a result, I became deprived of the right to get to know the neighborhood kids, which didn't help me later on in life. Also I refused to act like the other Dallas children, while they thought of me as snobby or uptight. I reciprocated and thought of them as unintelligent, asinine, hooligans. Now you can see where my issues came in. My peers assumed that the origin of my intelligence and good grades came from the teachers who have me the answers to everything. Even my best friend, at the time, accused me of cheating, which caused lasting effects on my choices of friends and who I trusted. During this time I spent each birthday up until middle school with only one friend showing up out of twenty I thought was in my clique. I became the outcast of the school. I was immune to any physical bullying since my parents were both teachers, but that meant that I could be traumatized mentally. As a child, I was undeniably clumsy ,therefore I always heard the sound of laughter filling up around me , each sound wave smashing at my heart and letting another brick to pile up on top of another until my brick wall transformed into steel. Mother Nature decided that the entitlement of school klutz wasn't acceptable, I also possessed a speech impediment. With every syllable that I attempted to pronounce was stuttered uncontrollably and pronunciations were my Achilles heal . As snide,hurtful comments fell out of my peers mouth, I learned that remaining silent had its advantages. Unknowingly, the silence made me even more vulnerable and my teachers assumed that I was developing slower due to my lack of speaking. Before I had a chances to show my true colors, labels continuously cascaded down on me

The first day of middle school is a day that shall always remember. As I strolled into my new school, I felt like an anomaly . The saying which one of these items do not belong rang out in my head as I was plucked out from the crowd. You see the principal pulled me aside and insisted that she escorts me across campus to the elementary school. She thought that with my short stature and undeveloped features, that I stumbled into the wrong place.Imagine me, a little girl who is two heads shorter than the vulture that towered above me arguing with the head hen in the roost while I am the newly hatched chick who hatched a little too late. After a while I got annoyed, so I insisted that she escorts me to her office so she can look me up on the database. She ended up apologizing and slowly pulled the clothes sticker that stuck to the back of my jeans like white on rice. This same year I emerged as a victim of physical bullying. A girl twice my size decided that I was a woody toy and decided to pull my ponytail every hour of everyday. Being a sheltered child so I didn't know how to react to this situation. At first, I even thought that she was striving to annoy me or get my attention. It wasn't until high school that I finally embraced the concept of bullying and that I was a victim. Luckily for me, my sister looked out for me. By the end of the year I never existed to my personal predator. The predator became the prey and searched for a new , shiny toy to play with. At this time in my life I was a midget. My self esteem and self confidence dwindled without a sign of salvation ahead. But this girl was no match for the giant that I became.

When seventh grade approached, I discovered that I went through a growth spurt that lasted throughout the entire school year. By the time that volleyball season and track season began I was ready to run and dive. I made the volleyball team, therefore I built up my strength, endurance, and stamina. Sports gave me an outlet that music could never give me. I found that I beat the best in any race and I was considered a star athlete. In turn, my self esteem and confidence expanded as I grew into the giant that persevered through the storm . With the new confidence and support around me I found that I was highly intelligent and that I learned easier than others due to my observation skills. By the time high school came I forgot about the midget that I was and looked up towards the giant that I am.



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