BULLIED 2

Submission 1171

I started getting bullied at the age of eight. I had this condition known as Asperger's Syndrome, otherwise known as high-functioning autism. In layman's terms it basically meant being stuck in your own world while still seeing the world outside and wanting to connect with it but not knowing how. So as you can probably tell, I was extremely awkward and I didn't get along well with most of my classmates. But everything was fine up till the age of eight.

To this day, I'm still not very sure what happened exactly that made them start bullying me, but whatever the reason, the bullying started and never stopped. What made it worse was that I wasn't bullied among my class, I was bullied in the school bus, so I got bullied everywhere I went in school and on the way back home. It started off with them snatching the bus uncle's phone from me as I played, claiming that it was their turn to play since I was such a loser all their hard work would be gone if I played. Next, it was them criticising my grades.

One of the bullies had a sister in my class, GIRL, and she would always feed him information about me. The siblings were very close, so even though she was one of the few friends I had, she started ignoring or insulting me. It ranged from how her grades were higher than mine even though she never studied, and she made sure to rub it in my face that she would always be smarter than me to them acting all close to each other and mocking me for never talking about my sister, taking it to mean that we weren't close at all.

The next stage was them physically abusing me. They would throw their things at me, and pull out the seat from the platform I was sitting on, which was very dangerous since the platform was the one the staff used to clean the fans and all. Once, they even drenched me completely in water using the garden hose, but I take satisfaction in the fact that I drenched them right back. In fact, when they got back, their parents even asked them why they were out playing int he rain! Oh the sweet joy when I saw them being scolded like little children in front of the entire bus, even though they were all older than me.

During the final year of bullying, I was put in a basketball class with GIRL, and I don't know whether it was on purpose of not, but she somehow managed to hit me with the ball every week, so I'd come back winded and injured. But the bullying got worse when we sat for this nationwide test.

Okay, I should probably explain this first. This test didn't affect our grades, rather, it distinguished between the "gifted" ones and the "normal" ones. So imagine GIRL's reaction when I got into the program and she didn't. In fact, no one else in the school bus got in except me, even though my grades were always average.

They would chase me around school, ganging up on me and not giving up until I started limping. They would hold an insult competition for me, seeing who could insult me the most. And since that year was the year where the bus uncle always came quite late, they had plenty of time and space to do all the things they wanted to do to me, seeing as the entire school was completely empty except for the teachers. But I took comfort in the knowledge that I would be changing schools soon, since this school didn't offer the gifted program.

Now, though I can't say I'm very popular in class, but I get along quite well with most people and even have a small circle of close friends. Huge improvement from those three years in that school, don't you think?

I experienced teasing, name calling and physical altercations.

I was eight years old when the bullying started.

I was bullied by my old schoolmates.

They would snatch my things away from me and try to harm me in ways that made it seem like an accident, all while insulting me like no tomorrow.

I felt alone and depressed.

I coped with the bullying by reading and homework, basically just drowning myself in work and books whenever I could.

I kind of fell into a state of depression as a result of bullying, but I've never self-harmed.

I've never contemplated suicide before, to me, the bullying wasn't that serious yet.

I told people that I was being bullied long after it happened, maybe two to three years after.

I didn't want anyone to pity me back then and wanted to prove that I wouldn't break, and I think it was also to do with my parents being away for long periods of time for work. I think the reason I told people about it was because I was ready to let go.

I was bullied for about two years.

No, I'm not still being bullied.

QUESTION: How do you counter the insecurity and self-esteem issues that come from bullying?

ADVICE: You just have to act like what they said or did didn't just shatter you, because that way they will eventually stop the bullying. You can't beg or plead, you just have to stay strong and have a mask of steel. Fighting!