The One who stood at the bottom

People across the hall, laughing, finding the urge to make me feel like I don’t belong, I find myself wondering why these people take any chance they can get to make others feel the way I did. Even though these bullies look at themselves as the primes inside the doors of our school, they are really just small, cowardly people that make fun of others that have the same problems that they do. I once was that one person, the one that everyone picked on. I was the one who stood at the bottom. But then one day, the day that I finally got fed up with all of the teasing, all of the insults, I told these kids what I really thought about them. That was the day that I felt I had become mentally stronger than all the others.

Years ago, in the seventh grade, I was easily the most bullied kid in school. I found people insulting me because of my ears, my strength, and my weight. I didn’t do anything about it because I felt that if I told anyone, then the bullying would just become a bigger problem. I thought if I told the counselor or the principal I would be called a snitch, and be bullied by even more people. My dad told me that telling someone else isn’t always the right solution. He told me that sometimes solving a problem requires solving it yourself. He taught me the power of using your words. He is also the one that taught me that all bullies bully because they are afraid to be made fun of themselves.

After me and my dad talked about using my words, I went up to one of my bullies. Naturally, he greeted me with an insult, and I told him that it doesn’t make him cool to bully people. I also said that I felt sorry for him because I knew that he must have serious problems of his own. After that conversation I didn’t hear another insult out of him the whole rest of that year. I felt very accomplished. By facing up to my most aggressive bully, all the others also seemed to stop. Now I help others that are being bullied by telling them how I handled the situation in seventh grade. Today I can open my locker in peace without having the fear of others behind me snickering, and without hearing the whispering of things that used to make me feel bad about myself.