You wouldn't know it, looking at my brazen confidence, optimistic outlook and a trajectory destined for leadership, but I was the kid who got bullied in school.
Not teasing and name calling, but vicious, severe bullying.
It happened here in Greater Cincinnati, at one of the most elite public schools (wait, is that an oxymoron?) around... you know the one. Nice homes. Picket fences. Every kid plays soccer.
I was always bookish, and I already explained to you that I was nerdy/dorky.
I was such an easy mark.
Sensitive and not yet socially confident, I was an A+ target for several spiteful classmates' cruelty. And it was a cruelty that swept through the school like a wildfire in Malibu.
Literally hundreds of students would taunt me daily. That's not an exaggeration.
I won't criticize their parents, though those kids should have been taught better. What I will do is celebrate my parents, who were supportive and wrought with care.
"No matter how bad it gets, Katy, you never have to end your life." It's something my dad said to me when we were on a ride together. I don't know if he worried about me committing suicide, but I think about those words often, and know that, yes, it does get better. (Side note: The Trevor Project is a great resource for anyone coping through a tough time as a youth - LGBT or not.)
I reveal this, not to display my wounds, but to champion the success that is me.
I survived this. I conquered this. I surpassed this.
Today, I am a young professional with a treasured group of friends, limitless potential, an exciting social calendar, and several passports full of international stamps.
I am literally going places.
My confident, 34-year-old self is really irked. No, I am incensed after reading that the state of Michigan is close to embracing legislation that would allow religious-based bullying.
Michigan's GOP-controlled state senate has passed a bill that allows children, adults - whomever - to bully students under the guise that it is religiously or ethically motivated.
As in, "Well, I beat the shit out of/harassed/otherwise tormented Johnny because he's gay, and that is against my die-hard evangelical beliefs."
Are you kidding me?
Seriously, What Would Jesus Do?
This sickening kind of legislation makes me think that the Christian Right, Neo-Cons, Tea Partiers and everyone else on the Right side of the aisle needs to re-examine their spiritual beliefs.
I'm sorry, but your religious freedoms do not open the door for the harassment of another human being.
Ever.
Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
1 comment:
Thank you so much for posting this and sharing your experiences with us. It’s important that people understand that it’s not always the ones who had it easy in life who continue to be the “cool kids” when they grow up.
In reality, it’s the bullies who are actually the ones who are tormented within themselves or perhaps at home. Sometimes, it could be the kids who’s parents are bullies themselves and teach their children that they are the Alpha and that everyone else should bow to them or it could be the students that are beaten and tormented at home that bully other kids to make themselves feel better.
Either way, you parents are amazing people for keeping you a float and getting you through. YOU are amazing because you didn’t let those horrible kids keep you down. I don’t know you that well and yet what I do know, I think that you are a great person that will accomplish anything that you want to! It was an honor to get to meet you.
To allow these people to feel that they have the right to bully others because they don’t have the same beliefs as themselves makes them a bigger sinner. The ones that choose to be gay (for example) make that choice on their own and it’s between them and God alone, not between them and the public! God may not love the sin but he still loves the sinner and can only hope that His child will come back to Him. It’s not OUR right to judge lest we be judged.
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