I went through it in the 5th grade. It happens far too often and is really damaging.

E, I'm sorry that you were bullied. Blue, I'm sorry you were too. Thankfully I wasn't. Thank you for sharing the quote you did. It makes me think about something my youngest son Chase did one time I will never forget. He's 22 now. He rode the bus to school . We only live about a mile away , so he was the last one picked up in the morning and the first one let off in the afternoon. He was in the 8th grade when this happened. Here, middle school is 6th-8th grade. Chase was one of the ' poplular kids'...He was never stuck up or arrogant, he just had a lot of friends and has always been able to relate to all kinds of people and connect with them. There was a kid who rode the bus. Chase didn't really know him well but he had noticed that this guy ( younger than him ) was made fun of at school a few times that he noticed. This young boy was overweight and wore glasses and had braces ( which I guess constituted being made fun of which makes my blood boil ). Anyway, Chase always sat in the back of the bus. One day, after school, Chase got on the bus and he noticed that someone had taped a piece of paper to this boy's back that said ' kick me, I'm stupid.". The boy was sitting near the front of the bus. Chase just quietly without saying a word pulled the paper off of the boy's back. ( He was leaning forward )... all the kids could see Chase do that. Chase walked in the door and came in the kitchen and showed me the paper and told me what he did. He said it made him so sad to think that kids could be so cruel and that that boy didn't deserve that. Ofcourse I started crying ( like I'm doing now ) and I don't know if I've ever been more proud of him. I know it was something small, but if more kids would stand up to bullies , wouldn't it make this world a better place? Kids kill themselves over being bullied and that is a sad and tragic thing and it needs to stop. It's heartbreaking.

My bullying started when I was in Kindergarten, and kept up until I was 20 years old. My English college instructor asked me to write an essay on one of my incidences so I did. I got an A+ for a grade. If anyone is ever interested, I will write it out here for you. I have so many. It makes me sad thinking about it right now. I had shared it in my journal a long time ago but would never know how to find it. If anyone is still suffering, hurting, or needs to talk about it, please let me know. Lots of gentle hugs to you all. GB

Besides being called "stupid" by a teacher, I was overweight and wore glasses. My maiden name was similar to a hamburger. So I was called "fatso", "four eyes" and "hamburger". But they say the best revenge is living well. I blossomed into a beauty (though still overweight) and that helped a lot. We shouldn't be judged by our looks, but I guess it's inevitable.