Bobby the Bully.

There's been a lot of hubbub in the media lately regarding bullying. A few young people have taken their own lives as a result of being bullied recently and now the media has jumped on the subject.

Even Hollywood stars are speaking out against bullying. There are news specials on the subject and students around the country are starting anti-bullying task forces at their schools.

I just have one question regarding all of this. WHERE THE FRELL WHERE ALL THESE ANTIBULLYING SENTIMENTS WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL????

Seriously! From 3rd to 7th grade there wasn't a day that went by where I wasn't teased unmercifully or given a good smacking around by classmates. Both teachers and parents could have cared less back then. They were of a generation where a good beating would "build character".

Back in the day being a geek wasn't as counter culture cool as it is today. Back then being a kid who collected action figures rather than following professional sports teams wasn't exactly the cool thing to do. It got me into boatloads of trouble.

There was this one kid in my class who made it his main point in life to make sure I was miserable whenever he was in my presence. We'll call him "Bobby" in this post.

Bobby was a young, typical good looking, freckle faced, popular kid who all the teachers and students loved. He was good at athletics and was always the star player out on the blacktop. He also came from a, not rich, but financially comfortable family.

I started at the new school in the 3rd grade and Bobby, already being a fixture at the new school, took an instant dislike to me. I was gawky, had crazy curly hair, big goofy glasses and set of buck teeth that not only stuck out of my face, but had big gaps between them (I was a thumb sucker when I was a wee lad). On top of that, my Mom would always go way out of her way to dress me in the silliest looking outfits that usually included flood pants. I was cruising for a bruising the minute I first walked through that front door of that school.

I think I was starting to be pushed around within the first week. Bobby made sure that everyone else in the class disliked me and would follow suit in his abusive treatment of me.

The bullying lasted 3 years solid and had me at a point of severe depression and fear. I would wake up in the mornings wondering what was the purpose of waking up. I was only 10 years old for crssakes! I didn't understand the concept of suicidal tendencies.

On a daily basis I would have to calculate every move I made and everything I would say to avoid my classmates ridicule. Because no matter what I did, it was met with disdain. Even my best friend at the school would join in with the teasing and pummeling. It was pretty frackin' harsh.

A few short days before I entered the 7th grade and what was to be yet another year of torture from Bobby and his followers, we got the news that Bobby was hit by a car and died. No frack. The big assed beast known as karma came and reared her ugly assed head in a way that could only be described as the ultimate God Smack.

In the days and weeks that followed I didn't feel vindicated, I was far more blown away by the fact that someone my age could leave us in a split second. It wasn't until later in life that I felt a slight satisfaction in what all went down. But, now, as an adult, I feel for his family, but at the same time I wonder what 7th grade would have been like with him there. Would I have survived it?

Things got better in the years after. I was far less teased in grade school and in high school, though still an outcast, I found a good group of friends that I'm still close with.

So it's not just young gay people who are targets of bullying. There are plenty of us heterosexuals who are, or where, outcasts and targets and probably have an inkling of knowledge of what it's like to be different and not fit in.

It saddens me that people feel the need to end their lives at such a young age due to bullies. It got better for me. It can for them also. Unfortunately it's all about patience. Something the youth of today don't have.

And as for the bullies of the world, Karma is a big assed beeotch! A chance meeting with the front end of an automobile could be the cure to bullying.

Zangz.