Topic: Middle School Bullying
What if we went back in time?
If we went back many many years
To a time where bullying was not yet an issue.
Some of you might already be living in that time zone, while some of us can’t escape this one.
We can’t escape the emotional or the physical pain we feel each day due to bullies.
You feel that no matter how many adults you tell, or how many other kids you tell, none of them, not a single one, are able put an end to the excruciating pain of the power of words or even the physical pain you're feeling.
Telling an adult causes you to become the weakling or the tattletale and just makes everything worse in the end.
You always decide to just keep your mouth shut and wait for the final bell to ring.
So you go through the same torturous cycle every day.
The same cycle, that drains all of your hope of just having a normal, happy middle school life.
You worry in the morning about the clothes you put on.
And you wonder
What negative words will the other kids say about my appearance today?
Will they laugh at my weight?
My imperfect skin?
My glasses?
My grades?
My sexuality or gender identity?
Oh, and while their at it
Might as well laugh at my choice of friends too.
Maybe mock everything I say?
Anything really.
Anything just to ensure their own selfish satisfaction.
You go to school.
You know saying the wrong thing will just cause more rumors to add to the overwhelming stress you already feel.
You know that middle school is like a minefield.
One wrong move and your whole world blows up and your face, crumbles, and caves in on you.
You stay quiet when your friends aren’t around because you can’t talk to anyone else.
You can’t because you know that if you do, the other kids will twist all of your words and use them against you.
Even the ones that seem nice are hard to trust because that's how they all acted at first,
right before they stabbed you in the back.
Crying in front of them or acting like something's wrong can lead to rumors that you’re too weak or too sensitive.
It’s as if they’re all just watching you, waiting for you to mess something up so they can have yet another thing to make fun of you for.
You wouldn’t risk making new friends even if they seem nice.
You don’t trust anyone. Some of you don’t have friends to begin with.
You’re fighting this war alone.
You are losing and badly wounded.
No one is there to heal you.
You just lie and wait until you bleed out,
while the bullies sit and wait like vultures.
Finally, it’s the end of the day.
When you go to bed that night, you can no longer hope that tomorrow will be any better.
It never is.
You continue to lose hope until you feel that there is none left…..
But there is always hope.
There is always hope because you are not alone.
There will always be another lonely person who would be more than willing to be by your side in this war because they also desperately need someone to be by their side.
There will always be another lonely person,
because we can’t go back in time to a paradise without bullying.
All we can do is keep fighting through it.
There are so many other people just like you fighting through every day.
Fighting through this war just to survive middle school.
Keep fighting, because you are just as important as all of the other fighters and you will look back at your awkward middle school self and be so glad that you pushed through.
Keep fighting because you are just as important as anyone else.
And most importantly of all,
Keep fighting because
You... are not alone.
There is still plenty of time for you to blossom into the magnificent flower that you are all capable of becoming,
as long as you don't let anyone step on you.
Hang in there fighters.
(I'm not a confident writer yet so please don't be mean. I will gladly take helpful criticism though.)
©yuna
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