Bullying: A Personal Story

[WilliamPitt]

Here There Be Monsters
http://archive.truthout.org/here-there-be-monsters56756

Fuck Mitt Romney.

[dionysus]

1. K&R

[riderinthestorm]

2. Oh Will, this is perhaps one of your finest pieces ever.

Smilies seem to trite for such a terrible subject. My niece is experiencing all that you've written about and more... my heart breaks for anyone whose been so remorselessly bullied.

rMoney could have chosen to seize the moment, expressed real remorse for his actions, and pledged to work towards eradicating this scourge. It says a lot about him that he chose to NOT REMEMBER ???!!!! Buggers belief.

Hugs to you

Hope for healing

I know my niece will never be whole. I fear for her future. It gladdens my heart to see that you made it out alive,

[TBF]

3. Very powerful piece, Will -

I am posting it on my FB page now for more circulation. This should not be happening to anyone.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. It was good of you to share this piece of yourself.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I'd read this piece before, but just now, I read it again, to remind myself of its contents.

You have written so many fine pieces, but I can without hesitation that this one is your absolute finest.

It is astonishing in its clarity, its boldness, its truth.

It should be required reading by every high school, and yes, every middle school administrator.

Thank you so much, my dear Will.

[Mopar151]

6. Indeed.

Mitt grows more tiresome and worthless by the day. Nothing but a bunco man. Deserves to relive Hoover's 1931 campaign. Hope to see Rove, Koch, and the rest of the monsters eating their own livers by October.

[Tumbulu]

7. Thank you for writing this and sharing it with us

I cannot for the life of me understand why schools allow bullying - how wonderful to read that you were able to change that dynamic within your own classroom.

I hope that with the attention on the issue that more people will be saved from persecution.

[WCGreen]

8. I was a target for several bully's over the years...

We moved around a lot and so I was always suspect.

For a brief time, I taunted people, never physically, but I wanted to give as much as I got.

I figured it out by the time I hit high school that it was just plain wrong. I was able to apologize to the few people I felt guilty about over the years and most of them told me that memories about me were about being a being a political rabble rouser and a funny, outspoken guy. No one really remembered that part of my life.

[Rex]

9. K

R

[ibegurpard]

10. indeed

and this story breaking gave him the perfect opportunity to say "I am ashamed of what I did to that young man and I wish I could go back and erase the incident. It's haunted me my entire life." Instead what he said was he didn't remember it...I call bullshit. If he didn't remember it he's even worse than we thought...if he did and is just lying about it then he hasn't changed or grown at all from that spoiled, entitled prep school brat who assaulted that other kid.

[handmade34]

11. "You see, I have this scar on my hand"

the memories are palpable... yes; fuck Mitt Romney.



I have these scars seared into my brain..........

[freshwest]

22. +1

[WilliamPitt]

12. Up

[slackmaster]

13. K&R. I remember too.

Thanks William.

[Bake]

14. OH. MY. GOD. Will, one of your best pieces ever.

And that, my friend, is high praise. Thank you for sharing that in such a powerful way.

Bake

[Mad-in-Mo]

15. Yes, scars on my brain too.

At one point I sent a message to one of my bulliers, to tell her I was enjoying the attention. That helped ease it somewhat, but it didn't really quit until she finally left the district.

Your essay brings back horrible memories --- and yes, I'm sure there is at least one kid like you/me/the bullied in each classroom. It sucks.

[WilliamPitt]

16. Welcome to DU

...and a to the survivors.

[hifiguy]

17. Wow. That was an incredible piece, Will.

I was bullied regularly. Asperger's kids attract bullies like magnets draw iron filings, even though the word Asperger's didn't exist when I was a kid. I was also "gifted" and accelerated a year. Being the smallest and smartest kid in class is not a good place.

Fortunately when I was in grade school I had a couple of friends who were very tough kids. I couldn't physically stick up for myself but Mike and Mark delivered more than one beating to someone who was bullying me. It never took a second beating for the bullies to get the message.

Years went on, we moved, and I found myself being bullied again. I was out of school for a year, placed back with kids my own age and size, and became just another face in the crowd, known mainly as a class clown. I survived. But there were days I wished I were dead.

[Neoma]

18. After the kidney/blood part, I could read more after that.

[obliviously]

19. Was this the turning point that brought you to drugs and alcohol?

[WilliamPitt]

20. Nah

That was you.

[wakemewhenitsover]

21. Fantastic piece. Bravo. n/t

[Vanje]

23. K&R nt

[hfojvt]

24. I think I read that back when it was first written in 2010

I think it is a leap to conflate that with Romney. If the worst thing that had happened to you was that you got pinned down and had your hair cut I think you probably would be relieved. So unless the article mentioned more such incidents, I think that is a stretch.

My own experiences were more varied http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=678018

although I do not think there was a goat in my own classes. Not one that I can remember, although things could easily have been going on of which I was not aware. There were some at my grade school, like Bonita from the class of 1979 and Kurt from the class of 1981 and Dan from the class of 1982. Ironically enough, Dan became a bully of my brother when they were both in the trombone section, and I hit him and almost got into a fight with him on a band trip when I was a senior. I was wearing sort of a tight sweater and he came up and said "hey chesty" and pinched me on the moob, and I gave him a left to his own chest. He made this big show of hitting me back, which I semi-blocked. Since it didn't hurt when he hit me, I figured that was the end of it, and he figured he got the last hit and walked away. Had he landed a better punch, I probably would have kept going (and who knows, maybe have gotten my a$$ kicked. I was not exactly a master fighter, but I wasn't scared of him either.) Earlier in the day, we had been playing frisbee football and I had heard him on the sidelines laughing and bragging, about how he had clobbered "one of those wimps" - Place, Fossum or me (it was Fossum). I sorta already wanted to smack him for that. And to think that just four years earler, when he was in 6th grade, I had seen a circle of kids around him, beating him up. Actually he was only fighting one, but I heard one kid yelling "I get him next". I would have put a stop to that, except I was not big enough or brave enough. I actually knew Dan from way back, when he was on my Little League team. He was the kid who made the 3rd out when I had gotten the only hit when we were beaten 18-0.

[WilliamPitt]

25. Jets fans

All the same.

[hfojvt]

28. they jump the shark?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/122

http://www.koch2congress.com/

[regnaD kciN]

26. I can relate, Will...

My experience was a bit less extreme, but just as devastating.

[Bolo Boffin]

27. Fuck Mitt Romney, indeed.

What he did to that kid in prep school, he did to weak companies to make himself even richer. And now he wants to do the same to the social safety net in this country.

Excellent article, Mr. Pitt.

[JHB]

29. Good for "lost your nerve"

Having been in similar shoes, I'm really glad I didn't dig in my heels at that particular dark moment.