I have changed the names to single letters for privacy purposes.

I've was bullied for quite a long time. So long,in fact,that I was almost used to it-the taunting,the insults,the laughing.  At first,it was the usual elementary name-calling.  But it started to get worse in 5th grade.

That year,I made a certain 'friend',we'll call her B. B started off as a genuine friend,but later began to threaten me by saying that if I didn't buy her material items and gifts,she would stop being my friend. She would spread rumors about me,saying that my dad sold drugs. I had no other friends,so it hurt to find that she was never a true friend. But I figured that things would be better next year in middle school,when I had a new start.

I was completely wrong.

It turned out that B was at the same middle school I was at. She threatened to beat me up after school. I didn't do anything. I went home in fear,and said nothing to my parents for 2 days. Finally,I told my dad. He called the school administration to tell them what was happening. All the vice principal did was tell us not to talk to each other. Of course,that didn't work at all. She 'made up' with me,asking to borrow things from me and never returning them. After seeing through her disguise,I learned not to trust her and avoided her. Unfortunately,her brother also happened to harass me,ans kicked my backpack for amusement.Boys would make fun of me,and B and some other girls would throw balls at me in PE.People even stuck gum in my hair. It was hard,but not as difficult as the next year would be.

7th grade came. I had friends,but they later came to hate me.They began ignoring me,and it bothered me. One day,I confronted one of them about it. This friend,let's call her S. S told me that I was annoying. About a month passed by. I forgot how this fallout began,but this one was the worst. A friend of ours,named A,and I began to argue. We were shouting at each other in the gym.I forgot what exactly we said to each other as it was 4 years ago,but I do remember her shouting 'Because nobody f***ing likes you!' at me. Those words I never forgot. I fell into depression. To make things worse,I was moving to another house and school,making me more depressed. Winter Break came,and my family moved into my aunts' home. I never did get to go to my new school though,my dad had heard that many bad things happened there. So I stayed where I was. A and her best friend,my former friend P,were pretty upset to know that I was staying for good. I was lonely and friendless,until a girl named Jessie came up and started talking to me. We soon became friends. She introduced me to some other people,who also made friends with me. Unfortunately,the bullying did not stop. People spread new rumors about me.They would call me a goth/emo wannabe,and said I was the child of the devil. Two kids in my last class,a boy,R,and a girl,O,began to make fun of me. They would push me out of my chair,trip me,throw spitballs and me and hit me. They even made a violent drawing of me in which I was pinned to a wall facing a broken mirror.In the drawing I was getting shot,another girl had a flamethrower,and a friend of mine was shooting arrows at me while my crush at the time was telling them to shoot me.It was horrible. They made that year a living hell for me.I had yet another fallout with 3 friends-F (a boy),V(a girl),and E (also a girl).V would ignore me and try to get others to do the same. She and A would make fun of me. A,who by this time was my arch enemy,would say 'Eww,it's Claudia! You're disgusting,Claudia. Everything about you is disgusting.' I made up with F,V,and E eventually,but they all made me feel like I was hated by everyone I knew.

Soon it was summertime. I began talking to my new crush,L.We went out,then broke up after 2 weeks.He began acting strangely,talking to my best friend more than he did to me. We got into an arguement. He said he didn't care about me,never did,called me a stupid goth and told me to kill myself,that it would make him happy.I cried myself to sleep for a week.We made up about 3 weeks later,but he began to sexually harass me,asking for pictures of breasts (which I never sent,of course).

Finally,8th grade year came. I had a final fallout with the same friends as before-F,V,and E. This was the worst one. They sent me a letter that made me want to commit suicide. It sent me into a very bad anxiety attack when I received it. I felt myself shaking,my heart racing,I wanted to run out of class and hide.This is what it said:

 

(Me in their Point of View): What the f*** you guys don't even signal me on when I can make my emo group and Monday I'll give you a poem of my problems

F:Then f*** you

F:I didn't run away from you because I didn't want to hurt you

F:I didn't like you from the beginning I hated you :)

F:I had my eyes closed when I met you now I opened them and you're a disaster

V:Oh and nice emo group! Haha what signal?

V:SO IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY,SAY IT TO MY FACE! B****!

(Unknown people)

To Claudia:LOL,you fat emo c***

Claudia,you b****,you're not emo,you're just a b**** thats all

(Drawing of me)

I'm f****n emo b****-----not!

 *cat paw flipping me off* 4 u!

WHOESHI! KYA KAWAII DESU!

I found out that they weren't the only ones who wrote it-they had passed it around to the WHOLE CLASS. I wanted to just end it all. But I didn't. I kept moving on despite all the pain.And in the end,I made it through.

 

Unfortunately,it still affects me today. I now have social anxiety,and am afraid that everyone who speaks to me intends to judge/criticize me badly. I'm afraid to be bullied. But one day,I know this will all end.

After Elementary school I was exposed to an entirely different schooling experience. In Elementary school I was friends with everyone and enjoyed school. However things changed the moment I entered Middle School. I went from public school to a private Christian school. And let me tell you, kids were very far from Christian. I was picked on the moment I entered the school for being different. I didn't come from a affluent home but rather a home where both mom and dad worked to put food on the table a shelter over our heads and put pennies together for a better education via private school. These kids came from a money background and anyone without it was cast to the side and ignored and shunned like the Amish. Once my grades plummeted my parents pulled me from the school and I went back to public school and the other type of bullying began; physical.

See before in private school it was mental and emotional but this was different now. Now I was in a school where physical bullying was the thing. It didn't help either that I was the "only" white kid in all my classes and I'm not exaggerating. In this school I experienced being punched in lunch as kids walked by, a knife put to my throat and being told "I hate white people". Everyday I just tried to be a chameleon and blend into the surroundings so not to be seen. Then one day it all changed. I was pushed to far and I ended up lashing out with revenge. The next kid that messed with me I threw through a school window (closed). At this time my parents decided I had to be moved yet again.

From there I went to a school where it was a good mix of races and you'd think ok this is a good start... Wrong again, white kids shunned me now because I was different then them. They would call me names and act as if I didn't even exist. After the middle school bonanza I went into high school where mom fought to have me placed in a TAG school. This was by far the best school as bullying didn't really exist for me. I mean I was bullied walking to and from school by local wanna be thugs and occasionally beat up for absolutely no reason other than to do it. And when I say beat up I mean 3 guys jumping me that are no longer in high school just for the fun of it.

For me this was a very tough childhood that made it tough for me to trust people and be me. To end on a bright note though without me continuing to write as I could go on for pages and pages more. I see people for people and who they really are within themselves. Your actions speak so loud I can't hear what your saying. And at the end of the day love wins all.

My Name is Samuel and this is my story,

From the beginning of 3rd grade, I have been picked on pushed around and called names all because I am the still considered the new kid, even after 10 years, and it just get worse, and never lets up. I have tried standing up for my self, but I am the one that gets punished because none of the school officials tend to want to do anything, and never have. We had a local business want to start a group to stop the bullying in the school in our town, but when they brought it to the school board, they told her that there was no bullying in our school and never has been and they did not want to start it, so, I just think that in order to stop it, we need to show them what really happens during the days at school where there is not always somebody there to stop it, that is why when I graduate in a little under two months the kids younger then me that I stand up for will have nobody to turn to, and will get picked on worse because I am a senior and l know what it is like, and still put up with it, and I have even been told by one of the people that bullies me, that he can see me bringing a gun to school and opening fire, and I know for a fact that I would never do that because, I have never once have held a gun in my life and have never shot a gun, so as for why he says that I do not know.

 

Thank You,

Samuel

Hello, i'm titha from Indonesia. no, i'm not in bully. i just want to share my story. now, i'm in Senior High School. but, when i'm in Elementary School i was in bully on my bus school. like Alex. but i'm not freez, i opponent him. so, when you in bully, don't fear. just calm down and opponent him

All my life, I've been bullied. It started when I was a young girl and in daycare. No one wanted to be my friend because I was Asian. I didn't understand why people didn't like me. I thought I was like them, I felt like them. As I grew up to the age of being able to go to school, people discriminated against me, again because of my race. I was raised in a white family and I felt very much like them. I was taught that I was supposed to be nice to everyone but I didn't know I could stand up to them. Through 3rd grade, I was severely bullied. I was even bullied by adults, mostly the ones that were supposed to help me learn and grow as a person. These educators made me feel small and isolated. It got to a point where I wanted to die. I was quickly moved from that class but the bullying continued. One girl even told me they were glad they weren't adopted and I cried for a week straight. Fourth grade wasn't as bad, but my friends suddenly didn't feel like friends. Fifth grade was my year and I felt like I stood a chance, until it all came tumbling down when, once again, an adult bullied me. They thought I was never going to amount to anything. I cried myself to sleep for 2 days straight. I moved on to middle school but I had learnt to build a wall. Here is the beginning of my nightmare. Those friends I had, suddenly didn't want anything to do with me. I was labeled a rude and mean because I was depressed and had anxiety, though  I hadn't been diagnosed yet. I learned to build a mask and then perfect it. 7th grade was the beginning of the depression, I was losing friends and battling anxiety and I had my first panic attack. I started thinking about suicide and cutting. It gets even worse. The beginning of 8th grade is when I began cutting. I never cut deep enough to leave scars but enough to make myself bleed. I had severe depression and high anxiety. On Sept. 20th, I attempted suicide but I called the suicide hotline and they convinced me that it was going to be okay. I was 13. The bullying doesn't end. I am once again being bullied by a teacher. They yell at me and no matter what I try to do, I'll end up with the consequences. I have lost a large amount of friends this year and I am left with 2. 

  My name is Julia Turek. I'm 13. I lost a brotherly figure August 27th, 2013. His name was Bart Palosz. A lot of people read his story. A sweet, sweet boy, who after 7 years couldn't take it anymore. He came back home after the first day of school and shot himself. You can imagine the shock of coming home after school, on this day, and learning that someone I loved is gone. I still remember that day coming home. It was a warm, and sunny day. Not a cloud in sight, the sky a baby blue color. The wind was fresh and reviving. It was blowing my hair back, tickling the nape of my neck. I had jogged up the stairs and thrown open the door. I yelled, "Mom, I'm home". She was standing there, dressed all in black. A baggy t-shirt, some loose shorts. She had looked up at me, and said, "Hi, Love". Her eyes had been puffy, red, tear-stained. I could tell she tried to wipe away her tears when she heard me bounding up the stairs. She never was like that. I knew there was only one thing. "Who died? Was it Grandma, an uncle, an aunt?" She looked up at me with pain in her eyes. I would never have guesses she would say "Bartek, has shot himself." I remember my feet collapsing from beneath me, and falling into a heap crying.

It's funny how when someone is gone all of a sudden everything you ever did together comes flashing before your eyes. The laughter, jokes, tears. Everything. I remembered our trip from two weeks before he died to New York. We had raced through the streets seeing who was faster. We had sat outside on the sidewalk in front of the Yankee store while the rest of our families were inside, because I am a Red Sox fan and refused to step inside. I remember our trip to Old Lyme with his best friend Radek, where we had canoed. The hospital after my brother had been born. Every moment we ever spent together flashed by.

Now even 6-7 months later, I can't handle the truth. My heart hurts for Ania his mother, Franek his father, and Beata, and all of his friends. We lost someone we all dearly loved. 

Losing someone affects you your whole life. Jokes that used to be funny aren't anymore. Smiling is just a bit harder. At my school we take lots of tests that test our reading comprehension. Most tests are about bullying or texting and driving.  Now, I can't take that test without crying. I can't read about how victims feel, about how they later on develop problems. I can't stand thinking that that's how he must have felt. That in those few years he could feel so alone, so helpless.

Bullying not only affects person you are bullying. It affects everyone that loved them. You scar them, their family, and friends. Thanks to bullying here's another family and friends without someone they love thanks to bullying.

I used to always get bullied because of my race. I live in a really racist town and being different just wasn't acceptable at the time. I would be ditched by my neighborhood "friends," get jumped on the playground, and would be shunned. I remember playing tag and when I was running past this kid, he grab my arm and wouldn't let me go. I told him to release me but he refused. Finally I just took my nails and ran them along his arm. of course because he had the marks to prove it, I was the one who took the blame. In fact, I was always the one who took the blame. It was really sad that the person who teased me the most was the person who lived right up the street from me. Our parents joke about us getting married but why would I love someone who caused me so much pain? Now we go to different high school and everyone has grown up a bit so I don't get harassed that much anymore. However, I know this kid (kind of not really) who gets bullied because his mom died of cancer. I saw someone say to him, "I bet you're mom is grateful that she died. That way she doesn't have to put up with  faggot son like you." It's amazing how evil some kids can be to others.   

Knowledge without Service is useless
Service without Knowledge is futile

As people, most of what we know and utilize is due to the experience of those who have come before us. Looking back and looking forward, we as people have unknowingly created paths in which others will follow.

As activists, we are creating a path. We, the people of The Bully Project, have what it takes to make a change! We KNOW of the bullying epidemic and the resources to fight. But without putting that knowledge to use, it is useless.

It is important to be an ALLY and fight what we are here to fight. Stand STRONG and TALL. Speak for those who can't, be there voice and guide them to their own. Fight for yourself and for the greater goods of people.

Sounds dramatic and not all that serious? Bullying is causing people to take their lives as I write this post. It's time to speak out.
USE YOUR VOICE!

I was bullied from the first day of school until the last day of high school. It has affected My life, A good day was when I was ignored. I sometime wonder if they think back on what they put Me through and feel bad or do they not care one way or the other. I wish they could know how They affected My life. I do not make friends easily and have not had very many friends through out My life.The schools are doing a better job of helping to stop bulling but...a true bully would not be affected by it. We must find a way to stop bulling of any kind. 

I am a very timid person ever since I started school. I also have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and I take medicine to control it. Well, because I'm shy I didn't have any friends. People thought I couldn't talk or was mean and hated everyone. I joined a small group because two of the people were nice to me but they never talked to me and the other people basically shunned me because they didn't trust me. This was only the beginning of my lonely life because when I got to high school things got much worse. I led a boring life, still barely talking, not having any real friends. My life tumbled into a chaotic mess though. I quite my sport that I did for nine years and joined my schools play. There I met some new people and also met a guy who people thought I should date.. I was pressured into dating him and neither of us liked each other at all. (At the same time I find out that my family was moving..) But it didn't help that another guy was hitting on me and doing everything in his power to get me to leave my boyfriend and be with him instead. He used mind games on me to get me to do what he wanted. If I hadn't moved states he probably would have raped me...which is terrifying for me to think about. All of this drama being thrown on me so unexpectedly and my mind being weakened by that guy caused me to be depressed. I was also developing an anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anorexia (because I stopped doing my sport), all on top of my preexisting ADHD. I resulted to cutting myself and starving myself and wearing minimal clothing and caking on too much makeup. I looked and left like a monster. It wasn't until two years later did I stop cutting and starving myself though... And it was about that time that I reasoned the medicine I take everyday might be the cause of my suffering. However that's another story. Now I'm in college and my roommates are constantly pressuring me into drinking and doing drugs... Sometimes they shove alcohol into my hands and force me to drink it. Other times they just try to talk me into it.. Even people I don't know try to pressure me into partying with them. Everyone makes fun of me for not drinking! I'm constantly bullied because of it! I'm glad I've been able to stay strong though. I'm also made fun of for my obsession with Harry Potter and reading books. Even my friends say I am annoying because I like to talk about Harry Potter and books... I still haven't found some solid ground where I can be myself besides my home! And I'm rarely home now with college... I hope I can find a good path to tread soon. This is my story. I hope whoever reads it learns a thing or two and remembers to stay strong.