There’s No Such Thing as Normal

Posted: 1/13/2014

I am a perfectly healthy and average 12 year old girl who isn't allergic to anything but Penicillin. Almost everyone in my 6 grade classes (we have 2 classes) is friends with each other. Nobody would physically hurt each other or bully each other to the point where one of us commits suicide. It's nothing life threatening. However, at lunch time, sometimes I get bullied. The problem is, the people at my table don't realize they hurt me. They're all pretty nice people, I'm friends with all of them. There are 4 boys who sit at my table and 2 other girls. For lunch, I usually bring a tuna sandwich because I like tuna. Sometimes I bring a sandwich that includes mayo on it. Sometimes I bring a bagel with cream cheese. The problem is, the girls and one of the boys were asking me today things like "How do you like tuna?" Or something like that. Then I told them the foods I didn't like. I don't drink pop (I never have), I don't eat fruits like strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, mango, etc. I am not the type of person that likes foods that most kids like. I do like grapes, bananas, apples, watermelon, and some vegetables. When they found out this, they were for some reason appalled by this. I don't see why. Not everyone likes the same thing. They didn't physically hurt me, they just acted kind of rude. The girls weren't as mean as the one guy. They just said things like, "I can't believe you don't like strawberries!". It didn't really hurt me, but they acted like I was an alien or something. There's no such thing as normal, because everyone is different. But they acted like it was against the law to have a different opinion. It hurt me a little. The other 3 boys didn't really say anything, they just continued to eat their lunch. But I'm not sure what to do. If they do it again, how do I respond? I feel like crying because I don't want to deal with bullying.

By: Grace