There is something we can do

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A picture of me at 9

As a kid I was bullied. 

For a good few years. 

Sometimes it was because of my haircuts, sometimes about my glasses, but most of the time only because they were bored.

For years I would find flaws in me and excuse people for their bullying...thinking somehow I deserved it. But as I changed, their behaviour didn't and I stopped blaming myself. I actually started to realise it wasn't about me. It was about them.

But that period of time left a few marks that I try very hard to erase.
It left a shattered self-confidence.

It hurt even worse when female students were part of the bullying. Something I didn't and will never understand. Why would a female do that to another female when we have enough struggles by the dominating mentality in the world, especially where I live?

I used to come home a little late because I didn't want to bump into them on the street, so I would wait till they were further than me and wouldn't see me, or sometimes just not even react to what they would say or do to me. For quite some time no one knew. I didn't talk about it to anyone. I didn't think it would change anything. My teachers would easily find me guilty for "not getting along with anyone". One of my teachers actually told my mom that something was wrong with me because "no one is talking to her, so all of them can't be wrong, she is the one doing something wrong". To this day it hurts my heart that I truly believed it at some point. 

After some time they started bullying me online, the girls I had once been friends with. And I had a total breakdown. I remember crying my eyes out and staring at my bed thinking: "All I want is just to go to sleep in peace like any normal kid".

And my mom took charge of the situation. 
She came to school and took the case to the principal. 
He was kind enough to hear my side of the story and actually believed me.

It made a difference. 
I finished my last days of middle school in peace.

This is only my story. Only my few years. But this is just like a little part of a huge puzzle. There are millions like me.
It is sad to think that there are still people who think they have the right to make someone else feel bad about themselves. People who are so young but can so easily and heartlessly mess with someone's mental and emotional health. Even more devastating is that there are teachers who make little kids like myself feel so guilty of something they should have prevented in the first place.

There is something we can do.
There is something parents can do.
There is something teachers can do.
There is something schools can do.

We just need to understand it is not okay. We need to speak up about what we go through. We should not pay for others lack of respect and kindness.

We need to teach other generations what bullying actually is and how it can affect people.
Bullying is never okay. And the ridiculous reasons to cover it up aren't okay either.

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Kosovo (SCR1244)