I have been skinny almost all my life, however different to what you might think, skinny does not mean pretty. I was never in style; I had bad teeth and a low self esteem. Intelligent, sure, accepted, maybe, popular; never. I used to hang out with the girls that I thought were my friends, what I never realized was that all they ever did was overlook me. They were always the pretty ones, I was their charity case.
I remember how much I always wanted to be like them. I never had my own style, I never had my own voice, I never had my own nothing, I was always looking up to have and to be like the girls I idolized cause when I looked at the mirror all I could see was someone I hated, someone I did not wanted to look like, someone I did not wanted to be. To that, I had to add the deformity of my hands when I reached 14, to which the doctor said, I just had more bone than skin. Throughout most of my teenage years, I was called a thousand names, among the most popular ones E.T. and Bugs Bunny. It was harsh not being seen for my grade point average or my talents, but by the flaws that I could not fix with a bit of makeup here and there.
People would like me to say that the only enemy I faced was myself, that I self sabotaged myself into having low self esteem and believing that I was ugly and inadequate, but reality is that was only part of the problem. The rest of the problem was encouraged by those around me who were cruel, their parents who encouraged their cruelty, my parents who accepted that kids are just kids and that middle school and high school are cruel places, my teachers who gave a rat’s ass about what happened in the hallways and I guess I can also blame the presidency or something else. But then I guess people would start saying that I want to blame the world for the evils of the world. And nobody wants that right?
We are so caught up into the conventions of the world that we forget to fight and support those who fight against what is unfair and psychologically unhealthy in the world. Maybe because it is easier to look the other way and think it will pass, that the kids will just grow up and forget all the scarring moments that made them cry for unnerving and never ending nights. That they will forge they were called names and they were insulted and bullied non-stop every day for years. I guess maybe because it is easier to do that than to take some action against the abuse your son or daughter might be facing. Because thinking that hard moments might make them stronger when the reality of the situation is that those moments only make it harder to get up in the morning every day and face the world. What better example of this than the statistics for teen suicides and yet, the world prefers to walk blind.
If we don’t engage into some real actions against this entire situation, only one thing will be for sure, the number of youngsters who will never see their dreams fulfilled will keep rising and also the number of grieving families. Why do we insist to ignore what is clearly spread before our eyes? Bullying, labeling, hazing and all the consequences this brings are not natural and they should not be a part of a child’s development. We should not encourage it and we should not ignore it either, we should take action,that is the only legitimate way to prove your children and those around you that you care and that you really love them.
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