Bullies & Friendship

There was a show about bullying on Oprah today. Strangely but not surprisingly, all the teenagers being interviewed were gay, lesbian, bi, or pansexual (whatever that is..)

Some of them were even bullied to suicide. And there one case where even after death, the bullies were still posting taunts on his memorial page. Imagine the pain the parents have to go through when they read things like "I'm glad you are dead". Bullies have no place in this world. They are losers with no spine and no future. Their insecurities deserve no pity and they should burn.

It made me think. My mom asked me, was I bullied before? I said no at first. I was verbally attacked before. But I did retort, so I wouldn't classify it as bullying.

That time, my classmate in secondary school called W***** insulted my sister. He was my friend. I went to his house many times to play computer games. I'm ashamed to say that the first few times when he insulted my sister, I didn't say anything. (I must add that I he didn't even see my sister before).

Wrong move. The insults only grew more and more crude and degrading. Until it reached a point where I felt I had nothing to lose if i confronted him. His friendship was not indispensable. It was an amazing feeling confronting him. I told him sternly to stop it, that it wasn't funny, how can he say such things to his friend, does he even consider me as his friend? I didn't even use vulgarity, I just said things as they were. Shone the light on his ugly ass if you like.

I'm glad I did that. From they day onward, he started behaving nicely. We became much closer then. But as usual, all my friendships never really last. So I've lost contact with him.

My theory to why I never have any close friends - I have never stayed in one place long enough to get close to anybody. Another theory is that I didn't really open myself up to anybody. Somehow I am insecure in this way. I really believe that you have to be vulnerable to another person before friendships can develop. It takes a lot of courage. I hope it's not too late for me!