The Side Effects of Bullying

I experienced bullying. A jolly lot during my elementary years when I was still receiving the honour of being the "Most Well Behaved" pupil.

Which is then pretty normal to become the main target of bullies. I frequently stutter during those years, making me very shy to talk a lot. My stutters can't escape the ears of those hounds. I am also not witty enough to make my classmates laugh over simple conversations. Wherein, I think, that all of them are natural talkers.

And I think weird. I don’t really like a lot of people. I almost hate them.

But what surprises me during those years is when a classmate of mine who stutters a lot like me is not being bullied. WHY?! I think it is very unfair not to received fair attention and acceptance in the community of small social circle inside our classroom.

Maybe that is the reason why I hate a lot of people back then.

It is quite a classic case. Almost every childhood experiences consist of the nightmares of bullying. I say almost because even the bully-iers are being bullied, too. And I think that they suffered more than we do. Having no outlets, they vent their pent-up emotions and frustrations and let downs on other people. Which is very pathetic.

I don't write to discuss human psychology on why people bully. I write because I want to talk about on what it does on people. On how it transforms people as well as on how it destroys them.

I, for one, acts like an extrovert around people. I seriously studied how to talk like a pro. I observed and I imitated all those who are popular in the group. I experimented. And I applied it to my day to day conversation. Until I perfected the art of talking. Hah!

That changed my whole persona. From a wallflower into the most talkative person in the room. I haven’t realized it earlier until my name was written in the “List of Noisy Students”. And when my best friend shared me this:

“Don't let the crowd pressure you,
Stand for something-
Or you'll fall for anything.!”

                     -Teen Creed 

Until then, I realized, I pushed too far. It wasn’t me anymore!

That's what bullying made me. An alien of my own self. A copycat. Lost in the sea of all the world’s mediocrity in order to fit in.

That is my story. Until now, I still can’t decide whether it’s a happy one or not.

Anyway, at least I didn’t end up depressed and killed myself, right?

Here’s another better story to cheer you up.

There was a girl who was ruthlessly bullied because of her extreme cystic acne and physical appearance. This made her emotionally distraught which made her leave public school and entered a private school in order to work directly with a teacher to prevent from being bullied. Her name is Cassandra Bankson.

Because of her experience of being teased due to her skin problems, she created a video tutorial on how to cover acne with makeup. Her daily videos gained millions of viewers and international attention. She’s into modelling, too. Not bad, eh?

Another girl, named Bethany Mota, was home-schooled as a child. She entered a public school in junior high but decided to leave after a devastating experience on cyber-bullying.

Looking for an outlet for all the boredom and loneliness, she decided to upload videos offering tips and advice to young girls like her on makeups and fashion among others.

Her videos garnered millions of viewers and earned thousands of dollars from it. She built her own empire on clothing and accessories.

Now, those stories are quite inspirational. I didn’t suggest that victims of bullying should also upload video tutorials and catch the attention of thousands of people.

I say it is all about coping up. We all have our own devastating experiences. But it is up to us on how to overcome those nightmares. We can’t just let ourselves curl in a dark corner and cry our hearts out; it will not make things better. It is all about on how we stand tall, with head held up high, and never let other people control you.

" When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper. They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless." -Unknown