Today a little 13 year old boy killed himself at a school Mii~chan once attended, even so it was the little brother of one of her best friends. So she has been taking it really hard.
And it got me to thinking on what I should say of the matter, because as a human I felt I should say something. And this will extend to anyone and everyone who has ever taken their life over bullying or for any reason.
I was bullied in school pretty horribly growing up, and it never once let up until I hit high school and the bullies started realizing they had better things to do with their lives. I was even jumped a few times, and it was at its worst around the age of 13 as well. And it never helped that to add to the bullying I was always the butt of my friends jokes, that it became very very difficult to tell a regular insult from a fun-loving joke. And I still struggle with that today even.
I remember one time I was in basketball practice around 7th grade I believe and one of the upperclassmen who wasn't even on the team came up to me and shoved me down as I jumped up to shoot for a basket. I defended myself the best I could but wouldn't you know it, my coach didn't do a single thing about it. And he wouldn't be the last in this story. When we thought he had left, our coach sent us to change and called practice over and this same guy showed up in the locker room. He chatted a bit with the others he was friends with and as people started leaving one by one, this guy stayed. And his name was Kasey, so I'm gonna stop calling him guy from this point on. I tried leaving but Kasey wouldn't let me and not a single person on the team would help, they just kept leaving. And I was pretty physically week back in these days. I was your standard skinny-armed white boy nerd.
Well when all that was left was me, he had one of his friends Andrew, another even upperclassmen come in and put me in a headlock and then Kasey continued by threatening to stab me in the stomach with a freshly sharpened pointed pencil. He didn't after I started crying, and then he and Andrew let me go.
And to this day, I never found out what started any of it. I asked why, and he simply said he didn't like me though I had never done anything to him to begin with.
I ran out of their crying and I ran straight to the principal's office. When I got there I found one of my best friends Mitchell there as well and he too was crying, turned out another one of the upperclassmen, Derek, was right outside throwing basketballs at Mitchell just because he could. We explained everything to our Principal and Superintendent but ultimately they never did anything about it.
Of course I told my parents too and my mom confronted each kid about what happened but they only laughed.
------
The moral of the story and the reason why I told it comes from a question Mii~chan asked me earlier today, "why do kids do this to each other?" and my answer was: I don't know. And it's true, as a victim of bullying I still cannot tell you what triggers kids to do what they do. And the saddest part comes from authority figures who are incapable of making a dent in the system and stopping the bullying before it starts or gets worse.
Kids are too scared to talk to authority figures as well, and thats also sad but it's understandable. A parent can mostly threaten, not always can they do much more. And when you're alone, that bully can do whatever he likes to you to create yet another scar on your heart.
I just want people to know, that as the younger members of the human race it is up to us to be influential in keeping this world pristine and habitable for future generations like this little 13 year old boy who left us all too soon. And we need to make it worth wanting to stay on wether we do it emotionally or environmentally, kids should not have to grow up carrying the weight and scars of those who would harm them. We all deserve to live, a happy long natural life and die at a natural old age looking back on the happy life we lived, and the good people we helped.
Every being of life is precious. Human, animal and plant.
Let's start cleaning up our own messes. As precious as we are, let's start loving instead.
-Derrii-kun.
And it got me to thinking on what I should say of the matter, because as a human I felt I should say something. And this will extend to anyone and everyone who has ever taken their life over bullying or for any reason.
I was bullied in school pretty horribly growing up, and it never once let up until I hit high school and the bullies started realizing they had better things to do with their lives. I was even jumped a few times, and it was at its worst around the age of 13 as well. And it never helped that to add to the bullying I was always the butt of my friends jokes, that it became very very difficult to tell a regular insult from a fun-loving joke. And I still struggle with that today even.
I remember one time I was in basketball practice around 7th grade I believe and one of the upperclassmen who wasn't even on the team came up to me and shoved me down as I jumped up to shoot for a basket. I defended myself the best I could but wouldn't you know it, my coach didn't do a single thing about it. And he wouldn't be the last in this story. When we thought he had left, our coach sent us to change and called practice over and this same guy showed up in the locker room. He chatted a bit with the others he was friends with and as people started leaving one by one, this guy stayed. And his name was Kasey, so I'm gonna stop calling him guy from this point on. I tried leaving but Kasey wouldn't let me and not a single person on the team would help, they just kept leaving. And I was pretty physically week back in these days. I was your standard skinny-armed white boy nerd.
Well when all that was left was me, he had one of his friends Andrew, another even upperclassmen come in and put me in a headlock and then Kasey continued by threatening to stab me in the stomach with a freshly sharpened pointed pencil. He didn't after I started crying, and then he and Andrew let me go.
And to this day, I never found out what started any of it. I asked why, and he simply said he didn't like me though I had never done anything to him to begin with.
I ran out of their crying and I ran straight to the principal's office. When I got there I found one of my best friends Mitchell there as well and he too was crying, turned out another one of the upperclassmen, Derek, was right outside throwing basketballs at Mitchell just because he could. We explained everything to our Principal and Superintendent but ultimately they never did anything about it.
Of course I told my parents too and my mom confronted each kid about what happened but they only laughed.
------
The moral of the story and the reason why I told it comes from a question Mii~chan asked me earlier today, "why do kids do this to each other?" and my answer was: I don't know. And it's true, as a victim of bullying I still cannot tell you what triggers kids to do what they do. And the saddest part comes from authority figures who are incapable of making a dent in the system and stopping the bullying before it starts or gets worse.
Kids are too scared to talk to authority figures as well, and thats also sad but it's understandable. A parent can mostly threaten, not always can they do much more. And when you're alone, that bully can do whatever he likes to you to create yet another scar on your heart.
I just want people to know, that as the younger members of the human race it is up to us to be influential in keeping this world pristine and habitable for future generations like this little 13 year old boy who left us all too soon. And we need to make it worth wanting to stay on wether we do it emotionally or environmentally, kids should not have to grow up carrying the weight and scars of those who would harm them. We all deserve to live, a happy long natural life and die at a natural old age looking back on the happy life we lived, and the good people we helped.
Every being of life is precious. Human, animal and plant.
Let's start cleaning up our own messes. As precious as we are, let's start loving instead.
-Derrii-kun.