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Bullies are human, but bullying is not
DeLacyARouse
De'Lacy Rouse is a Liberty County High School and Armstrong graduate. - photo by Photo provided.

Bullying is something I know very well. I’ve experienced every type of bullying you can imagine. I’m still experiencing it to this day.

I’ve been called names, teased for how I look and the things I do, say and or wear. I’ve been threatened, and harassed both physically and verbally.

I’ve been bullied since I started school, but it got worse when I started high school.

Bullying affected me mentally and emotionally to the point I became depressed, angry, and developed low self esteem. I was getting low grades, tried to get revenge and, worst of all, I had thoughts of suicide.

You could say it’s crazy, but I’m only human. I would always wonder and ask God, "why me? Of all people, why am I the one being treated this way when, Lord knows, I don’t deserve it? I try every day to do my best to be happy and make everyone around me happy but nothing ever goes my way."

I’m smarter than that. Though I would occasionally have these thoughts, I never acted on them. I try to remember that my present may look dim, but my future is so bright it’s going to outshine my past.

Because of mistakes I’ve made, I learned the hard way that whenever I’ve been bullied, the one thing I try not to do is handle it myself.

Trying to handle a bully myself has always made things worse and sometimes would get into trouble.

If someone did something to me, I made sure to tell an adult. Hopefully things would settle down and I could try to reason with the bully.

If I felt there is no one I could trust as far as telling someone, I just tried to ignore it, or the best tactic, kill the bully with kindness, for I must give respect in order to receive respect.

I’ve also learned there are some people you can’t be friends with, no matter how much respect you try to give them. But that’s OK. Bullies are human and have feelings, too.

Yet as much as I try to understand them, I will never understand why they feel angry and why they do the things they do. The only thing I can do in order for them to change is pray they will change.

But even though bullies are human like everyone else, that does not make bullying an OK thing.

Bullying is never OK and should never be tolerated. It’s a cycle that will never be broken unless you do the right thing.

The fact that I’m still here on this earth proves I’m strong and can face any obstacle, and as long as I focus on accomplishing what’s important in my life, I can be happy.

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