Bullying has been on my mind a lot recently. There is so much bullying in the world. I have seen a few articles recently about bullying and unfortunately the sad and devastating effects that it can cause to individuals. It is quite sad that people think that it is ok to be mean to others.
When I think of bullying I think of my high school days. High school was hard on many levels, but it was especially hard during freshman year. I have always loved PE class. I love fitness and being active, but I disliked going to first-period PE class because I was right next to the bullies in the locker room. I don’t remember when it started or why, I just know that it was scary to go to PE class. I remember arriving first thing to try and avoid running into them. I even dressed in the bathroom sometimes because I was scared of them. I also hated that they would pick on two of my friends that were right next to me in the locker room. These bullies would say hurtful comments, most of them I thankfully don’t remember now.
I remember one time in PE class we were playing soccer and my friends and a few other people were on one team and the bullies were on the other. I remember as they were making fun of us, I kicked the ball and it hit one of the bullies right in the knee. It was a hard hit too! Oh was she mad and was threatening to beat me up, but I didn’t care. It was of course an accident, even though she didn’t see it that way, but it sure felt good. She and her group of friends went to the teacher to try and get me in trouble, but luckily the teacher took my side.
I remember talking to my mom a lot about what was going on and I remember her asking, “What do you think you should do?” I cried because I knew that I needed to pray and ask Heavenly Father for help. He wanted to help me, but I needed to do my part and ask for his help and comfort. After praying I knew that I needed to talk with the female PE teachers and see if we could get reassigned lockers. After telling them what was going on they thankfully were able to reassign lockers to me and my friends.
The same bully I hit with the ball was also in my German class. I didn’t talk to her and without her little buddies she wasn’t too bad in that class, but I still didn’t like her because she was a bully. I remember towards the end of the year we were doing a group presentation. Who do you think was in my group? My bully was! I could not believe it. I did not want to work with her. Luckily we didn’t have to speak much as we worked with three other students.
Finally, the big day came and we were getting ready to present. The girl was very nervous and said “I am so scared. I don’t think I can do this.” All of a sudden I said “It’s alright. You will do fine.” I could not believe that came out of my mouth. Why did I say that? This girl bullied me through half of my freshman year. Why was I being nice to her? Did I forgive her for what she did? Not then, no. But I realized that it was important to be kind to everyone. It is important to try and love others as Jesus did. Sometimes things may not change, but Heavenly Father sees your efforts and blesses you for that.
I want to teach our own kids to always be kind to one another. I want them to always feel comfortable to talk to both mommy and daddy. I want them to know how loved they are from not only us, but from their Heavenly Father.
Everyone’s story is different. But I learned from my bully how to be a better person. Showing kindness makes all the difference in the world because everyone should feel loved.
-Jelly Jazz