Bullying: My stories and advice
Bullying: My stories and advice
By Rifa Sipai | May | June 2020
Bullying!!! It’s kind of a word that everybody knows. Everybody at some point has gotten a lecture or has been bullied, so I wanted to share my stories and advice. The first paragraph starts as an introduction. Kind of like an “about the author.” The next paragraph talks about how I started being teased and how it turned into bullying. The third paragraph is about the feeling that I felt. I want you to relate to that the most because at that time it felt like I didn’t have anybody. In the next paragraph (the fourth paragraph) I tell another story about something that kind of changed me and kept me from being who I want to be. The next paragraph is based on feelings. It is a lot like the third paragraph in which I talk about my feelings so you can relate. The sixth paragraph is advice. I talk about all the different ways that I felt better and learned that they don’t matter. The final paragraph is just a conclusion. So without further ado let me start with an introduction.
Hi, my name is Rifa Sipai and I have a couple of stories to share with you. I have never been that popular kid. I’m pretty sure every school has those kids. The ones that everybody likes. It was hard for me to make and keep friends. I did have one best friend, but she was two years ahead of me so she was never in my class. At my last school before moving here, I started sticking out and not in a good way. So, that’s when the bullying started, which I’ll be going into in the next paragraph.
People would always tell me bad things about myself, things that I took to heart. Like “why are you always wearing that hoodie?” “OMG, you don’t have a phone that’s so sad.” I did take these comments to heart even though I told myself not to. At that time, I didn’t consider it bullying, it was more of teasing. Once I was just hanging out near my class during lunch when this girl who was also there kept telling me to leave because nobody wanted me there! Like WHAT!!! Anyway, all I wanted to do was read. One day my brother and mom asked me why I hung out with her and I was done with keeping everything secret in my life so, I just started crying and telling them how my life was trash while I was at school. My mom ended up talking to my teacher and she lectured the kids but that didn’t help me on the inside. While all this happened, I felt lots of different ways and that’s what the whole next paragraph is about.
When you’re getting teased or bullied like that, I know how it feels you want to see something bad happen to them (which I don’t suggest), but when they do/if they get in trouble, trust me you don’t feel any better because words are forever. They’re not something you forget and that feeling that nobody loves you will never go away. That feeling, those words will never leave me. When you’re in a position like that, you just feel tired, you want to wake up and realize that it’s all a dream.
Another story was once I got this new top, and I loved it. It was one of my favorites. So, of course, I decided to wear it to school. One of my “friends” came up to me and she legit said up to my face and my actual friends, “OMG, where’d you get that shirt, the dumpster. I have some clothes I was going to give to goodwill do you want them?” First of all, that’s just disrespectful. Have all the lessons our teachers have told us about respect taught you anything? After this incident, my life just kind of took a turn and started getting in a way worse.
Something that happened because of these scars was that even though it seems like I’m fine, you know, this happy person, it kind of like a mask. Inside I felt like giving up. What’s the point of living? My attention span had also become so much shorter. I found it hard to concentrate and I simply wanted to cry. Everybody thinks, you know, that you’re fine. You don’t have feelings or you don’t care, but little do they know that you go home and cry all night. If you’re the person who does these things to other people, I’m not going to pick you out, but the question that we want to ask you is, “Why?” You might think it’s funny or you’re just “joking” but you need to realize that putting others down is not going to lift you, it’s going to bring you lower. And if you think it’s “cool,” trust me, it’s not. Finally, things started getting better for me as which I show in the next paragraph.
It took a lot of patience and hard work, but this year I finally learned how to block them out. Even though it is hard, I know it is. You have to just nod and be like “cool,” walk away and imagine that it never happened. One of the things that helped me is just listing the positives no matter how small. Even if you feel like there’s no positive, trust me. There is always is. You just have to sometimes search for it. I used to keep everything in. And I’m not going to be like all those adults and say “You have to tell someone,” because even I don’t. I feel awkward so I just don’t. Even to friends, I don’t tell everything. You have to just get rid of the information you don’t need. If you do feel like you have too much stuff going on, and I know that isn’t uncommon, try talking someplace where you aren’t necessarily talking to someone. For example, writing in a journal, or making a video. Now that I’ve stated everything I think I just want to sum it up in the next paragraph.
In this article I talked about three different key points. Stories, feelings, and advice. I really hope you enjoyed reading it and trying to connect. I had a hard time writing this article, but I’m happy I did. It let me share my stories in a way that you can hopefully learn from. Thank you again for reading it.
Rifa Sipai is a student at Altamont Elementary School in the Lammersville Unified School District
