Somehow I Manage
Posted: 12/23/2013
My life changing experience started when I was in 6th grade. As soon as I started at my new school I was picked on. At first it was because I was shy and new. It did not bother me, due to that fact that I have been told stuff like that before. However, it did not start getting worse until around the middle of the school year. They started calling me a fag, queer, homo, spread rumors about me in school and in public websites such as myspace at the time and youtube. Most of the teachers knew and there were some that said something to the “popular” kids that were doing the bullying.
During all of the bullying in 2008, my seventeen year old cousin was killed in a dirt bike accident on a dirt road. It changed my attitude for several weeks. I had stopped eating, stayed home from school, and wouldn’t come out of my bedroom. It was the point in my life where I had become overcome with sadness and wanting the pain to disappear. Losing my cousin who was not only family, but I considered one of my best friends, it wore me out physically and emotionally. Add bullying on top of that and it’s a very difficult situation to be in. During the winter of 2008, my family decided to move out to a small town. It was only a few minutes away from my cousin’s parents and other family members. When I started school, I honestly thought that because of being related to my cousin and everyone knowing who I was, I wouldn't have had a problem. Yeah, well I was defiantly wrong. It was ten times worse than what I was dealing with previously. I was again called names such as fag and etc; they spit on me during science class one day, and even ran into me on purpose in the hallways. It got so bad that I would constantly call home during lunch, begging my parents to let me come home. The teachers, principle, and resource officer all knew what was going on. One teacher stepped up and helped me during the entire three years it was happening.
During the summer of 2009, my parents had separated and I lost two close family members. When I returned to school after missing a few days, my mother went to the school with me to inform the principle at the time what all had happened and asked to make sure nobody starts with me. That very day, I went into math class and sat down. No one said anything to me, which was a good sign for me. I stood up and went to my math teachers deck to turn in my makeup work from the days I had missed. On my way walking up to her desk, some of the kids decided to make some smart comments to me. When I got to the desk, I turned around and asked if they had an issue. None of them answered me, so I went back to my desk and was getting ready to sit down when I heard them again. I repeated and asked again if anyone had a problem. Two of them turned around and looked at me. The one was the “leader” of the bullying pack and the other was a follower. At that point, I took my glasses off and proceeded to walk up to his desk. I looked right at him and pretty much yelled in his face if he had an issue. When he looked up I remember throwing the first half of a punch, but blacked out after that. When I came back too, my teacher was yelling at me to get down to the office. I grabbed my glasses and ran down the stairs. When I went into the office I told the secretary to call the ambulance because I just got into a fight with another student. They immediately took me into the Principal’s Office and locked both doors. I was told to call my parents and have them come to the school as soon as possible. By the time my parents got to the school, I had two cops in a tiny room telling me to write down exactly what happened and told me to sign this paper that said they told me my writes than had a teacher sign it as a witness when she was no where near the room when they were doing this. I had to do probation because of the fight.
Because of being bullied for so long, I now have several mental illnesses and struggle to keep going everyday, but I somehow manage. I right now work as an STNA in a nursing home, but my dream is to race for a cause and a living.
By: Colton
