This year, my newly good friend Kasey moved schools to my school, Arrowhead. People move schools all the time, so I didn’t think of it as a big deal until I discovered why she switched. At her old school she was ridiculed and taunted daily. She told me how people would call her “slut” and “whore” all the time. Girls wouldn’t talk to her or be her friend and people would do horribly mean things to her. No one should have to go through that in high school.
Kasey got so sick of people bullying her, she started to get sick of herself and she even began to think she was the problem. She developed an eating disorder, and she started to fall into the deep black hole that people have a hard time coming out of. There is a little saying that goes, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me,” and I think that is completely false. In my opinion, words hurt and do more damage more than broken bones, especially when the words are mean, insulting, and untrue.
Mean words also hurt my sister. When my sister was a sophomore, she really wanted to try out for the school’s soccer team. She used to play in middle school and in a club team, and she was really good. She was too scared to try out freshman year, but sophomore year she decided to go for it. I knew she would make the team, and she did. However, bullying caused her to quit before she even began.
During tryouts, she told me she felt left out because the girls trying out knew each other because they were on the team together last year. Even familiar faces she knew from middle school and classes didn’t talk to her or even acknowledge her. I thought she was being dramatic and told her that when she made the team, they would be more inviting because they would get to know her better. I realize now, that when someone is complaining about bullying, they are never being dramatic.
Anyway, she went to the second day of tryouts only to find the problem had gotten worse. The girls no longer ignored her; instead, they ridiculed her. When they split up to scrimmage, the girls would groan when she was on their team, or say “Oh no, we have her on our team. There’s no way we are going to win now.” Even those familiar faces who my sister thought were her friends laughed along at the joke made at my sister’s expense. My sister isn’t the person who has a lot of good friends, but she is the person who is friendly and nice to everyone. After the tryout situation, she realized she did not want to deal with this the rest of the year, and decided to just not play.
People can be cruel and mean, and bullying is horrible. But things will get better. Yes, Kasey was bullied for three years and had insulting things happen to her. But now she doesn’t. She has a nice group of friends, people like her and the bullying stopped. My sister couldn’t be on the high school soccer team because she didn’t want to be put down everyday. So she made a new indoor team with people she actually enjoys being around.
Always have hope that things will get better because they will. It’s the law of averages. Your luck will turn around and you will grow up and have a good life. Believe that and not the things bullies say to you to hurt your feeling.