School Bullying

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bullying_one_town[/url]

Some of you may have already read this article but I started me to thinking about times when I was bullied while going to school. If you were bullied, I would like to read your story and how your bully was stopped.

When I was in the 8th grade I was bullied every afternoon on the school bus by a male high school senior. There were 3 students he was really mean to and regardless of where we sat, he found a way to get behind us and hurt us; we were terrified of him. He finally started stabbing us in the shoulders with sewing needles. One afternoon he stabbed me in the shoulder and looked toward the back of the bus so I would think it was someone else. I got up with a geography book, held it with both hands, and smashed his nose all over his face when he turned around. Blood was dripping off his chin, someone told the bus driver who stopped the bus and chewed me out and let the abuser go. He came back to our house that night and told my dad what I did and said that I couldn't ride the bus for a whole week. I showed Dad my left shoulder and it had 4 infected places where I had been stabbed with needles. He told the driver that I would be on that bus the next morning and he would "stomp a mudhole in him" if he refused to let me ride. Then dad went to the abusers house and called him and his dad out and laid down the law about him hurting me. He didn't stop there, he went to the School Superintendent and related the story to him. From that time on the bully had to hitchhike to school every day and never bothered me again. He quit school after a few trips of hitchhiking in downpours.

Bug,
It's sad that we go through those things but it's just a part of growing up. My daughter just went through it and after some conversations with the Principle and Counselor at her school they assured me it will stop. They wanted to keep me away from this girls parents....good call.

My own story which is one of MANY examples was from growing up in an area of Florida that was 99.9% white. The term "Florida Cracker" comes to mind.

Me having a Japanese Mom made me an easy target to bully. It got so bad I didn't want to ride the bus or go to school because I didn't know what to do or how to handle it.

Well my dad finally got involved and the school pretty much did nothing because back then people really were not that sensitive to everyones feelings. So my Dad told me to punch, beat, hurt or whatever it took to shut them up and so I did. Problem was I was good at it...lol. The next meeting was called by the school to my parents....lol.

It didn't stop there I dealt with it throughout my time in school and in the Army but I had learned how to deal with it by then. People who bully others are punks and insecure. A good attitude adjustment usually gets them on the path to enlightenment.

Good story Bug, mine was similar. When I was in the 4th grade a high schooler decided he didn't like me and started picking on me every day. The first couple of days he hurt me enough to draw tears. The next day he had me held against the bus window by my neck daring me to cry. When the bus driver saw this he yelled at the high schooler who let me go and tried to act innocent. I latched onto his ear and held on like a pit bull. Blood was everywhere and it took the bus driver and 3 other students to pry me off of his head. They had to stitch his ear back on in the ER but I was never bullied on the bus again. After that I learned that bullies play by a code, they will only fight if the odds are in their favor. They do not ever expect their target to poke them in the eyes or kick them in the crotch or do anything but take their punishment. I went home that night and told my dad what had happened and asked him to teach me not just to fight but to fight dirty.

There was a school meeting after that about what had happened. My dad laughed them all out of the room when the 150 lb high schooler tried to say I caused 27 stitches for no reason.

Recently this came full circle when my son showed up at the house with a bloody nose. He has an adrenal insufficiency and although he is 12 his body is the size of an 8 year old. We are correcting it with shots but you can imagine my anger when he told me that 2 older boys in the next neighborhood followed him off the bus and pushed him down and bloodied his nose. Like me, he can be a smart azz so I knew he was partially to blame but nothing he could have said warranted 2 100 lb boys to push a 50 lb boy down and punch him in the nose. I knew where each boy lived and drove to their house with my son in the truck. At the first house the boy is being raised by his single mother. She was completely shocked and promised that it wouldn't happen again.

At the second house I was met by the father of the second boy. He refused to believe that his son could do such a thing and was fairly antagonistic about it. I told him that I would let it go this time but if this ever happened again and his son was involved I would blame him personally and that if he should ever see my truck in front of his house he should dial 911 before answering the door because somebody would be going to the hospital.

Later that night the door bell rang and it was both boys with their parents. Both boys appologized to me and my son and promised that we wouldn't have any more trouble. Their parents also appologized and the antagonistic father shook my hand. It seems both boys had their parents snowballed until this came to light.

My son doesn't have the mean streak I did but he is learning to protect himself and I would like to sign him up for boxing in the future.

For me it was a simple matter of putting a stop to Bullying before it ever stopped. In 5th grade I had a guy try to bully me one time... and i do mean ONE time. I was pushed off a merry-go-round(the small metal ones that were in all the playgorunds in teh 80's) while it was spinning... i calmly got up, grabbed a textbook from my backpack leaning against teh building and threw it at him while he was still riding the merry-go-round..hit him in the chest knocking him off and cracking a rib. Funny thing is the teachers took my side because he had a history of being a ****...

apparently it sent the message to others my age to not mess with me... cuz i never got bullied again... even though i was in advanced program, a band geek, and a JROTC nerd...

Reading about that Croatian girl's funeral, all I can think is, "What on Earth can make a teenager so callous that they can walk up to an open casket and laugh?" There was bullying when I grew up. Always has been, always will be. But it seems like now it's being taken to a whole new level. I don't remember it ever being nearly as vicious as what's been in the news lately.

[QUOTE=RoadToad;428995]Reading about that Croatian girl's funeral, all I can think is, "What on Earth can make a teenager so callous that they can walk up to an open casket and laugh?" There was bullying when I grew up. Always has been, always will be. But it seems like now it's being taken to a whole new level. I don't remember it ever being nearly as vicious as what's been in the news lately.[/QUOTE]

Its a lack of upbringin in todays society...