Monday, November 24, 2008

Bullied

My life has been crazy. Ever since I was born, it has been dysfunctional. I was born on June 13, 1985. It was a glorious day. My cute little hairless body was born and Jesus wept for hours. From that day on, I lived with my Mom, my brother, and my two grandparents in their home until I was 5. Sometime around there, my Mom met my stepdad. My biological father never stuck around and to this day I have only seen him once and this was when I was about 1. Within a year or so of my Mom meeting my now stepdad, they were married, and we were moving into a brand spanking new house. You see my Mom was a beautician, cutting and styling hair for Moms all over Pittsburgh, and my stepdad, was an entrepreneur. My Mom didnt have lots of money, but this guy did. He was loaded. He had 4 daughters of his own. Ages all within a few years of me and my older brother. We as kids were showered with the most ridiculous gifts. Dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, go carts, pools, Nintendo and Sega!, and even a freaking Hover Craft. Yeah, who the hell owns a hover craft? Well, i did. But this money didnt last long though, my dads business went out of business for unknown reasons, and we lost most of our toys and money.

So I moved again. We moved from a brand new house into one that was roughly 150 years old. This old Victorian style house, was sort of nice, and sort of falling apart. At this point, my parents gathered up what money they had left and dumped it into a new business venture. They didnt have much money to put new clothes on our backs or new Nike shoes on our feet so at this point we were wearing a lot of hand me downs. I started a new school, and middle school seemed to be much different than Elementary School. There were cliques, popular people, nerdy people, and outcasts. This was not something I was used to. I think I was a good looking lad. In my prepubescent years, the acne had not come yet, nor had my deepened voice, or post bowl cut hairstyle. I wasnt sure what was cool or the type of people I wanted to associate with yet. But somewhere in my first two years at this school, people started to take notice to my clothes which I would repeatedly wear every few days. They noticed that I wasnt wearing Nike or Adidas shoes, and because of this, I was harassed. Because of this, I would be cornered in the locker room and punched and pushed. I hated gym class, I wasnt at this point the most athletic guy and I would be picked last in dodge ball or basketball.

Life wasnt fun. I had my group of friends, and we all thought we were cool in our own rights. But we knew we werent the popular kids in school. Then one day, at the bus stop, I somehow got into a confrontation with another student and he reached back, swung, and punched me right in the eye. This was the same day as a field trip to a park, and needless to say, my eye hurt, and started to turn black and blue within a few hours. This would be my first black eye ever. My stepdad obviously took notice and enrolled me in some karate lessons as well as taught me how to fight. He was a black belt in karate and taught me the quick and dirty way to fight. Within a few months, I started to fight back a little harder in the locker rooms, and when it was a one on one fight, I started to beat these bullies at their own game, and actually winning the fights. Within a year, no one picked one me anymore. I started dating some girls who were considered popular and I slowly moved myself out of being a nerd. And at the peak of my popularity, I moved again.
I was in the middle of my 8th grade year when I moved to a new town and into a much smaller house. My parents were more poor than ever, and their last business failed horribly leaving them with nothing. However, I had some new found confidence, and new haircut, and some new clothes. I went into this school thinking everything would be different. And for the most part, it was. I was instantly adopted into clique with the popular kids. I tried out for some sports, which i would later have to drop out of because I had to start working to help our my parents with the bills. However, it seems like bullies are anywhere. And I had a few guys who didnt like me for whatever reasons, and just like before, I was getting into fights again. But I never gave these guys a chance to gloat about them beating me up, because they were now the ones with black eyes, and I would walk away with a sore hand. I gained a repuation soon there after, and within time, no one fucked with me. I stayed popular throughout high school, even winning the bestowed crown for Homecoming King, and was even nominated prom King. I didnt win that crown, but I guess, we cant win them all.

4 comments:

Craig said...

Loved this story. Karate helped me build up my formerly-bullied confidence as well.

jay said...

Most people overcome being bullied AFTER high school where they can fight back with alot more things than fists but wow, that's truly an impressive story.

I was picked on a few times but high school in the Caribbean tends to be a bit more...civil..than the US from my understanding. I was unbelievably skinny so that's probably a good thing.

GumbyGuy said...

Wow! I love your blogs.

I started Tae Kwon Do in 7th grade and while I never had to use it, it gave me confidence out the wazoo knowing I could serious kick the living shit out of someone.

GumbyGuy said...
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