Taking A Stand

Posted: 5/17/2011

I was never physically bullied, but i was verbally bullied. I was a little over weight in middle school and had acne and was not as "cool" as the others. They would push me around and make me do things for them and if i didn’t then they would call me names in front of everyone. The worst thing was to be standing in front of everyone feeling so vulnerable and having them all point and laugh. I would go to school and cry every day. School wasn’t a place I went to to learn, it was a place I went to to try and make it through one day without getting picked on. I would get called names, all the other girls would tell secrets and laugh and gossip. I kept thinking to myself "will this ever end." I think the word "popular" is over-rated. All I wanted was to fit in, I tried to make the others like me. Nothing worked, at the time I felt that there was nothing I could do, so i just stuck it out. I am now 18 and in college. A lot has changed about me since I was 11. When I see my classmates from back in middle school, they try to act like were friends and that they never bullied me. One example in particular I ran into a guy who I went to school with and we started talking and it surprised me, when he said "Alyssa, you’re so pretty, I am so sorry I was mean to you back then."  I was shocked because he knew that he was rude, but now that i am grown up and look different, he wants to be my friend. I am no longer bullied, but I want to stand up to it, because no one deserves to go through it. I know how bad it hurts. For some people it can lead to bad things, I was heartbroken when I heard about the fifth grader who hung himself at school. I have recently heard of his parents speaking up about it, and the other day I wore pink for the anti-bullying day. It’s important to me, I want to make a stand and use my story to stop this horrible action. The other day, I was telling my friends that I wanted to go around speaking about bullying and be there for kids who just need a friend. Then I heard of what y'all are doing, and I love it. I love that people are making a stand against bullying.

By: Alyssa