The reason I am the person that I am, and why I don't pick on others.

[big4life]

People that know me here, know that I hate to see others get picked on. There is a reason behind that, and here it is.

When I was around 14 years old I was part of the "in crowd" at school. We all thought we were the coolest. We use to hang out together and really do everything together. Well there was this one kid name "Keith". He was I guess what people would call a geek. He wasn't good at sports, he didn't dress like everyone else. He just didn't fit in.

We decided that we were going to pick on him, I guess just because he was different, or at least we thought he was. We made this poor kids life a living hell for the entire year. I knew it was wrong but I went along with everyone else. I even got in some harassing of my own, I'm sorry to say. The next year when we came back after summer vacation, one of the girls at school told us about how he tried to kill his mom with a knife during the summer. Everybody got a big laugh out of it, except me. I couldn't help but think that we pushed him over the edge. I know were not the sole cause of his problems, but we damn sure didn't help. He ended up in a mental hospital, and what happened afterwards, I don't know.

After that I decided that I would never be a part of that kind of mess again. I also decided that I would stand up for people that I thought were being mistreated. I know that it doesn't make up for the pain that I helped cause this boy, but maybe it helps give me a little peace of mind. That is one of the big things in my life that I would change if I could.

 

[OMEGA]

that is a sad story

but you LEARNED from it

and that is all one can ask in the process of developing a decent soul.

your golden bro

 

[the People's Champ]

GOOD thread. I have been seeing myself being nicer as I got older, because people in genereal don't need other people giving them a hard time. of course there those kind of people that annoy the hell out of you, which I try to stay away from, but the ones you see on a normal day basis and don't even know them by name, I will give out a smile. whether or not they return the smile I dont care. if I make their lives easier by making their day a little less stressful by smiling, then that makes me happy. even happier when my friends are in good spirits.

 

[bballdad]

It's a shame more people don't learn that lesson
earlier in life. Nobody knows what life has in store for them.
I used to be the same way as you and picked on people in school.
Picked on people at work. But we were all young and everyone
picked on each other. But I quess as you get older and see
more sickness and death you learn picking on people isn't
very cute. You become aware of your own mortality. I
have guilty feelings today from the way I used to act.
And I try and reach out to people that are less fortunate
than I. I quess I'm just trying to make up for my past.

 

[Zirakzigil]

when i was in high school we used to tease this kid

I was such a fucking bastard.

Seriously not a day goes by when I dont think of it. I wish id never caused him that pain.

 

[theoak01]

big i know what you mean about that trying to fit in,until i joined reserves and woke up and realized i should be a better person and let others learn from my example i use to be the average dick,yelling at people for no reason just to be a ass all that bullshit,well my friends still do it and a few weeks ago they found it very funny to throw carrots at a overweight handicap native boy,now this pissed me off and i lost it on them and they stopped with him,but the next day a girl walked by where we eat lunch with a shaved head(i believe she is going through kemo ) and that hits close to home as my grandma died of that,and these fuckers just made fun of her until i had to leave,society is fucking assholes

anyways glad you changed for the better man

 

[saint808]

No one ever sees it from the kids perspective that goes into the school and shoots up his classmates, there was a kid i went to Hs with and he once told me he had dreams about coming in and pulling machine guns and mowing down the hallways... scary now that the shit actually happens. I remember walking down the hallway and seeing a circle of kids just pushing this one kid around and around... they all had their football jerseys on and thought they were bad mofo's... i shared his conversation with me to those kids and they never picked on him again. I dunno if they finally just got it or if they were scared either way it worked.

 

[Pamela]

Big you are a Stand Up Guy!!

Kids do things to others when they are young and I'm
not sure why!!

But I was picked on when I was in school.
I was over weight, so most of the kids
made fun of me... Even my brothers.. !!

I try and be nice to everyone, cause I
believe if you treat people with kindness
then you will receive the same back..


Big by all your post you can tell you are
a very nice person. Keep it up, maybe
it will start rubbing off!!

 

[huntmaster]

Man, that is really sad--but you were only 14 and the fact that you let it push you to be a positive person for so many folks is great!

My hat is off to you.

It is one thing to do wrong. Its another to realize it and decide to become better for it.

 

[naturally anabolic]

As a former highschool jock i can honestly say that it its often the feeling that you can get away with anything that creates the "in crowd" to pick on others, atleast that was the case in my school where we(the football players) had the ability to do just about anything we wanted and be able to get away with it...

I will admit there were times when i did not stand up for those the other football players would torment, when i know i should have... but i have seen both sides of the fence...

after getting injured in the 4th football game of my senior year those who were what i considered "friends" and "teammates" became nothing more then a constant source of anger and frustration, i was taunted just like anyone else and i was one of them, or i thought i was, i realized really quickly who my friends were and who would stand by me and the list went from alot to almost none in a very short amount of time.

I often associated with the outcasts and intellects and would hear constantly how they all wished for revenge against those who would harass them and poke fun at them, i don't blame them for feeling this way as the feeling is often so horrible that you wish they would just hit you instead of say things about you or to you.

Schools realizing that there is a problem and try to "mediate" things is far from the right idea in my opinion. I talked with my old highschool guidence counselor recently and she informed me they now have a "no bully" policy, i told her what i thought about it when she asked and informed her that a system such as that can never work, there will always be those who feel dominant and those who are the dominated. It is up to those who are being tormented to stand up and say something back and not allow it to continue then and only then will they earn some respect and gain some confidence, the schools need to learn to teach confidence to those who lack it and not shy away from those who are quiet and become centers for abuse.

Finally, when school realize that sports are not more important then academics then and only then will there not be this sense of "Varsity Blues" type behavior in schools.