(I normally advise people to ignore antis, but sometimes I come across something so good I just cannot resist. The original version of this I made had some creative hyper linking, but for security reasons I removed them here.)



I borrowed the book, Letters to a Bullied Girl, by Olivia Gardner, from a friend recently. There are some interesting letters from former bullies, such as this from Steven:

When I was in middle school and high school, I was particularly mean to a classmate. Ruthlessly mean in fact. She was from a poorer family, heavier in size, had few friends. An easy target. The torment lasted far too long, probably through my sophomore year of high school.

My behavior plagued me far longer than the four or five years I bullied my classmate. After much introspection, I know why I did it. The details aren't as important as the message: bullies feel better about themselves by picking on others. The bullying has nothing to do with the abused, and everything to do with the abusers.

I am ashamed of my behavior, just as your bullies may one day be ashamed of themselves. But I have learned from it. If there is one thing that I would like to say to my classmate today, it is that I was a weak person then, full of self-loathing and with a black hole in my heart. How sorry I am for not being a strong enough person to see the damage I was causing...

...damage such as this...

...I've been thinking about younger boys, and because there younger than me worrying that maybe I'm a pedo and what it means for the rest of my life because everyone hates pedos and it's making me miserable. - Kevin, 12 years old.

Xavier von erck, sues, stitches77, and violet leaves all have something in common: they are like Steve was in middle school and high school... they have yet to develop a sense of decency.

zlurker