Ok ATS I see this sad issue still exist today as it did when I was a child. Bullying is a serious issue that has to be seriously approached as to
prevent it from continuing on. Here is some of my personal experiences with it.
From my younger days in elementary school I was always taught by my mother to be a leader not a follower. So It was embedded from single digit Earth
years to never follow what others do but what I WANT TO DO. so I carried this mindstate since then. The thing is i can remember the problems that I
encountered during my elemantary school days all the way up to highschool, smh believe it or not. Very sad.
My elementary days, I remember my first situation with bullying. I lived in the projects and road the local city school bus too school dont panic it
wasnt that bad overall we were just poor as many others but moms and my father looked out for me and my sibilings as best they could and taught us
important things to survive within the environment we were living in without becomming products of that environment. Now back to going to school
because the bullying started from the minute I would step on the bus, smh.
I was a cool lil kid well dressed but not overdressed to make my peers feel like they wish they had what I did. Normal kid lol. Anyways once first
grade started and I went from the little cab driver transports to yellow bus transports things began to change for me fast. I went from me and mabey
1 other K age kid in a little white cab to a whole school bus full of children, which was a lil scary as well as entertaining when the energy on the
bus wasnt negative. Sometime the I will call them GROUP KIDS or leaders and followers would pick on the I will call them TARGET KID OR KIDS, SMH AND
GUESS WHAT I WAS ONE OF THE TARGET KIDS.... The thing is my mother and father taught me well so I was basically prepared for the leader/ follower set
up and when I begin to notice this was the bullying influence I began to catch on a lil.
So one day in the winter it was getting around Christmas time and in me school we had santas workshop. Like all the other kids I was happy to go home
and tell my parents Iabout getting them something aswell as my sibilngs later in the week, great nothing wrong YET. I got on the bus the next day and
it all began I was now the center of the GROUP KIDSand felt very sad and upset more so then afraid of them I just didnt understand this new form of
ignorance I was being introduced to so yes I was a lil caught off gaurd. I was on the bus and 3 bullies approached me about my santas workshop money
they new it was comming up that week and wanted me to give them my presents. I was lost and extremely upset by this I didnt know what to do. the bus
driver seemed like he was on another planet and there seemed to be no way to deal with what they wanted. So I first tried to ignore them but remember
as the TARGET KID THEY WONT STOP UNTIL YOU MAKE THEM OR CRUNCH UNDER THEIR PRESSURES. So inschool during the day I kept trying to avoid them and they
sensed it and stayed near me. I felt so overwhelmed I didnt know what to do I just wanted to CRUNCH AND CRY. It made my school days for that week so
uncomfortable I didnt want to go.
So that week went on and it got closer to the day infact two days before and I was upset so much my father heard me crying in my bed and thought there
was something really wrong. he came into my room and asked me wat was up I tole him from my bed that some bullies wanted me to give them my money or
gifts and I didnt know what to do. I see he was upset and felt bad for me. Pops took me down stair and started talking to me abot these bullies and
how followers always gotta gaing up because by themselves they are trully weak. I understood this and payed deep attention for more. Now some of you
may take what I about to say as wrong but hey this is the jects. some poele got real financial issues and their kids take them issues to school with
them. Anyway back to it. After talking my dad told my to lol put my hands up I sad what is that and he showed me. then he put his 2 hands up open
so i could begin to take practice shots at each hand I didnt know my courage was being injected from that point on. I took a few minutes swinging at
his hands and then once I got a little CONFIDENCE I felt much better. Dad told me clearly when you go to school tommorow and they start gathering up
on you the first one who says give me your stuff you tell them know and he said if they try to take it DEFEND YOURSELF LIKE I TAUGHT YOU... I said
dad what about detention he said look I know whats going on and its apparent the school cannot help this so if you get in trouble you wont have to do
punishment for it this time. Next day I go to school feeling CONFIDENT IN myself like no fear my daddy said its ok to defend. Carried on with my
usual day and who pops up these three the leader and his 2 followers smh. They surround me like well were is the gifts. I am still young so remember
I let them see what I brought they laughed and tried to grab my stuff. next thing i knew what my dad said came into mind and i was excuse me WOOPING
1 OF THE FOLLOWERS ARSES not majorly we were only first graders but he did have a bloody nose, smh. Anyway after that me and the 1 follower were sent
to detention for the day I went home with a note and dad lol smiled like yea me boy knows how to protect his. I felt releived because i didnt have to
get on punishment, cool.... Next day I go to school and guess what he bullies were acten a lil friendly even talking to me but not with te ignorant
tone they once posessed and it became clear I could take the leader position of the GROUP KIDS but instead I just spun off into my elementary world to
ave fun w/o worring about them anymore. I woudl see tese cats daily because they road the same bus back to te jects. with me after school. And didnt
live to many buildings away. Over te years I go tcool with the 2 following brothers why unfortunatly the leader was killed and found when we became
teens in some woods behind the playground may he rest in peace. Anyway I felt it was a learning experience that had ups and downs. The downs were I
had to inflict harm upon another to defend myself and it was a scary process up until my dad showed me the way VERY UNCOMFORTABLE, (because telling
the principle or teacher only provides a small bit of protection until your out of their eye then its back to handle it on your own again as well as
being marked as you know it a tattl tell ). The upside is I learned early how to defend myself which definetly came in handy as I developed into a
teen and then young man. And it helped me to further stay on the path of a leader not a weak follower I am still thankfull for that.
Fast forward into middle school same young me always walking my won way stirring up the masses because I dont do what everyone else does lmao @ myself
for that 1. Any way it was a little less stressful because I found the way early so dealing with me not following another was easy to do. (ANOTHER
UP BENEFIT IN MY ADULT LIFE) But again causes the GROUP KIDS to attract and ask why dont HE do what we do
. And after their observations they would
approach slowly with fear because a natural leader scares the HELL lol outta some followers. And I noticed this and begian to act on it not in a
negative way but in a way to more less say I am not scared of you AT ALL. Being in middle school we were a lil more mature but not alot. So the
bullying seemed more like a poke from afar in their asect to remain safe. When I say from afar I mean not directly bullying but making fun of mabey
my hair not being always cut to THEIR STANDARDS my clothes mabey not being to THEIR standards and I was a chubby kid or as Cartmen from south park
says it big boneded lol THE LADIES LOVE ME KNOW um just sayen
sometimes they would just pick on me outta plain ignorance but AGAIN always
remained cautious as not to excuse me piss me off. And over time during my 6th grade year I began to overcome their petty ways and some even became
cool friends with me. (once again oppurtunity to controll pack) and instead went along my middle school way WALKING MY OWN PATH tryen to get me some
telephone girlfriends that I could talk to but never see
but hey it was cool back then to have so many girlfriends even if you only met them from
friends and had to imagine what each other looked like lmao again at my younger days funnnny.
. The downs I experienced werent as bad because again
in elementary school I had overcame the bullying already and was advancing in my ways of development and knew that most of the time the indivduals
were behaving as bullies due to home related saddness or flat out bordem. The ups had allowed me to futher become a leader OF MY OWN PATH AND
CONFIDENCE WAS RISING AS I BECAME AWARE THAT I WAS NOT A FOLLOWER AND IT STRENGTHENED ME TO KNOW THIS. I didnt have to deal with peer pressure to
much because it was always like YAL DO WAT YAL WANNA DO AND IMMA DO ME, K. So each phase made me a sronger person as I grew seeming as if it was
preparing me for adulthood.
Now up to highschool SMH. I though it was all over or would of been by then but nope. It came back even stronger because GANG BANGEN CAME TO THE
CITY OF PITTSBURGH AND IT WAS HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL I cannot stress how bad it was it was to the point it felt like cali fo real, people were
getting shot for having getting of the city bus in the wrong hood with the wrong colors. I mean a little red - blue or black on a hat or shoes and it
was a rap for real. And man when it hit the highschools it was like bullying 1010101 you feel me. I mean you either chose a side or getting in and
out of PUBLIC school was not going to be fun. So bullying for me in highschool became more less intimidation from peers who were either bloods, crips
or la.w.s smh it was not easy to get thru this step and I will admitt I fell into it DEEP for a while until I came upon crossroads that forced me to
remember ARE YOU GONNA FOLLOW THEM ARE WALK YOUR OWN WAY even though walking your own way may get you killed so be prepared to defend yourself if you
must. It got so bad in 9th grade I seen my first hand gun in the boys bathroom. this was an attempt at bullying me but I somehow made it through. I
wen tinto the rest room and seen this one cat from a blood hood I was from a crip hood thats how you were labeled wether you like it or not if you
were from somewhere you were labeled by peers and police IT WAS WHAT IT WAS. Anyway this dude pulles out a gun it was rust and all he said it was
from being outside. He was showing it to me trying to read my intimidation meter and telling me about some war story I cannot remember as of now. I
didnt get scared and began to reference all my childhood experiences. And got the courage to tell him in a nonchalant way wow thats cool but I gotta
go. I guess since I didnt get afraid I was not marked as a scared person to him aso he didnt come my way again. The thing is going to the principle
or teacher was out of the question becaus for 1 once I stepped of them school grounds I was on my own to defend and unless I had a gun to buss back I
didnt want no probs with him at all nor did I want my name going around school as by this time some snitch or rat which would of singled me out more.
I remember things in school being so bad that again in another class I was shown a gun AMAZING HOW MANY SCHOOL KIDS HAVE EM SMH. But this person was
from one of the known killing hoods were its a high chance you step on their turf and get asked the MOST INSANE QUESTION "WERE ARE YOU FROM" SMMFH and
you cannot relate or say you are from a relating hood ITS A RAP AND I MEAN WITH THE CORONERS OFFICE. So I already knew this cats mentality. More of
his friends or gang came into this particular shop class and the whole class which was for half days in masonry an carpentry basically were followers.
I woudld watch them sniff laquor thinner the teacher would waltz in see them and quickly waltz clean the HELL outta there and he would make his
statment about our class responsibilities for the day and stay within his office SO THERE WS NO HELP THERE. PICTURE IT TEENS SNIFFING LAQUOR THINNER
WITH GUNS smmfh again. Me I would see these fools lol at them and blend and do my work for the day as requested because my mother and father werent
about the bad grades and I respected what they wanted of me over any of them followers. The noticed me not being part of the GROUP YOUNG ADULTS and
begin to pick with me because by then moms and pops moved to the burbs outta the projects. SO my hood wasnt on the map as of then and I ws seen as a
weakling the hood I grew up in was but i never felt the need to associate in that way to feel like I belonged. So they seen me as a burb kid and
attempted to bully or intimidate. But now the intimidation was serious because I knew guns were involved and stupid minds. But I had to stay strong
and lead my own path even though it seemed impossible. I managed to with some serious street upgrading and became me. Like ok if this is the way I
must defend then I must learn how too. Remember in these situations the children and young adults feel THERE IS NOONE WHO CAN HELP THEM NOONE. And I
think its like that because in reality we are getting closer to getting out on our own sorta like a mommy bird pushing her babies out the nest to fly
for first time im sure thats scary as well for the baby birds. And we all gotta figure out how to stand on our own. The downs were I was always at
risk if any one of these highschool bullies crossed me the ups are it taught me some serious survival technics mental and physical as to protect
myself and my mind from being negativly influenced.
I wrote this because I feel bad for the youth still dealing with the bullying today and would ask ATS is there a way to prevent the youth from going
thru this? And not just with metal detectors and scared on campus school police who didnt even have guns why the kids did. Or is this a part of
social development to survive on your own and to adapt to the ill of life?
Thanks and I am sure your comments will be observed by many. See if we can help because it was hard for me.
edit on 10/20/10 by Ophiuchus 13
because: (no reason given)