Anti Bullying Week 2014

When I think back to high school, I think of many things. Stupid things. Funny things.

Like the last day when we got our t-shirts signed. Thinking I was fabulous and beautiful when in fact I had long black hair that made me look like a confused 40 year old woman. Feeling like the world was going to end because of Year 9 SAT’s. When the football hit me on the head and I blacked out. When I sat in a puddle. SO many things.

I often think back to high school. Knowing I would never go back if you paid me but at the same time thinking ‘those were the days’. That’s because a few years have passed now and I’ve forgotten all about the stuff I hated there. Like PE.

I would NEVER say that I was bullied in school. I wasn’t.

I had my friends. I got on with my work. I didn’t struggle with my work.  I loved my home life and had nothing to worry about. I never dreaded going to school. It wasn’t the place I’d choose to go to but it was never somewhere scary.

For a lot of people it is.

This week has been ANTI-BULLYING WEEK. The aim of the week is to educate people on what bullying actually is and how it can affect people, as well as support victims of bullying.

‘Bullying’ is sadly something that is so “normal” and “expected” in school. This is nothing new, it has always been there. Power hungry and insecure people poking fun at others to win one up and make themselves feel better. However, with the internet it is something that is quickly becoming out of control.

I can’t sit here and slag off the internet. For one, I’m using it to show you this. I only heard about Anti-Bullying Week through the internet. It’s amazing. However some people abuse it to abuse others and that isn’t right. It can be unsafe.

Calvin Fox is a social media personality that I started to follow on Facebook, just because I enjoyed his videos. Earlier this week he uploaded a video of a talk he did to support Anti-bullying week where he talks about how he had to run from school the minute the bell rang just because he was “a bit different” and “feminine”.

I had names called at me at school. It wasn’t often and it was never anything I really let bother me because I quickly realised that nobody in school could win. I might have got called gayboy. But that popular girl was also getting called ‘slut’. And the clever kid was getting called ‘geek’. And the quiet girl was getting called ‘frigid and weird’. No matter who you was, you was never going to come out of school scratch free.

The serious cases though involved more than scratches and they still do.

Bullying doesn’t just happen in school like people imagine. It can happen wherever you go and this shouldn’t happen.

As a teenager it felt like the smallest thing was the biggest problem. But then I realised it isn’t and life goes on and it gets better.

The best way to “get back at the bullies” in my opinion is to continue proving yourself right and doing what you want to do. This will make you happy. You can choose the right people to be in your life and they will be there for the right reasons. This will make you happy. You will have control over your own success and failures and this will make you happy. The bullies will quickly become irrelevant.

More information:

Anti Bullying Alliance -  http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/

Calvin Fox on Facebook – Check out his Anti Bullying talk here.