I’m sure everyone has dealt with a bully, whether we were the one being bullied, or an innocent bystander. Children deal with it at school, and that’s usually just how we view it, as a problem between kids. We don’t think about the horrible things we say to each other or the things that we say to ourselves. As a matter of fact, we probably bully ourselves more than anyone else does. As adults, we are faced with these things too, and I think it’s time someone stood up and said something. Just recently a friend of mine experienced something like this at a gas station. She was minding her own business, standing in line at the checkout when a woman approached her.
She said to her, “My man would never let me leave the house looking like that.”
“Like what?” She asked.
The woman replied, “Like a slob.”
Being the pithy woman that my friend is, she retorted in her best southern accent, “Well I’m glad he’s not my man. He’d be buried out behind the chicken coop.”
It’s sad that we must deal with people like this as adults, I mean come on people we should be able to express ourselves in any way we choose to, and if we want to wear sweats to the store, we shouldn’t be accosted over it. You would think being grownups we would know better than to be so cruel to one another. We beat ourselves up enough as it is, we don’t need someone else to do it for us. I believe that this behavior is what makes children think it’s okay to do it to one another, they learn it from their elders. When we talk bad about other people in front of kids, we’re teaching them to behave that way themselves. They see us being mean to one another, and they think it’s alright because they saw the behavior in one of their family members. This website offers many different statistics about bullying: http://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/stats.asp
There is bullying all around us, it could be at work, in a social situation, or even while we’re out shopping. I personally have had my own experiences with bullying, both in school and as an adult. I was made fun of all through school, I was obviously different from everyone else (in ways I might mention in another article), and I got tormented because of it.
As an adult, I've been body shamed, I’m sure I’m not the only one. I’ve even been shamed for going back to school in my late twenties. It’s almost impossible to get away from, everyone has their own judgments about others, but do we have to speak them? Bullying is just wrong; I don’t care what form it comes in, or who’s doing it. I don’t understand why people must be so cruel to one another. Some people are overweight because they have no choice in the matter, whether they take medications that cause it, or they have some sort of condition. Some people are thin for the very same reason; then there are others who like the way they look one of these two ways. All I’m saying is that there is no reason for us to be mean to one another, it’s unprecedented. Why do we have to be so mean?
If you need help give these numbers a try. There's always someone listening.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255
Teen Health and Wellness suicide hotline 800-784-2433
