> When you were a kid, were you ever victimized either by a schoolyard bully or by a common street bully?
>
> Kid bullies usually look for another kid who is obviously younger or weaker than themselves.
>
> After they assure themselves that they, themselves, are in no danger from the potential victim, they proceed to begin their bullying.
>
> Once they get away with the bullying the first time, with no retaliation, they continue the bullying every time they get the opportunity to pick on the victim again.
>
> Eventually, after both the bully and the victim reach a certain age, the bullying usually stops, because there comes a time when such bullying is no longer considered a little problem that kids have to suffer through, and instead it becomes a crime. And so, normally, the bullying stops at that point.
>
> If you were ever the victim of a bully or bullies, when you were a kid, what is your reaction when you see the same bully or bullies now, when you are adults?
>
> Is there hatred? Resentment? Revenge?

I was bullied *A LOT* in the fifth grade. The school that I went to wasn't to good, and my classmates (for the most part) were very undisciplined and inconsiderate. Me, getting far better grades than most of them, physically weaker, and of Asian descent, made the perfect victim.

In middle school, I suffered from a different kind of bullying. I went to this gifted program. Unfortunately for me, a "friend" of mine was also going to that school. That previous summer, a rivalry had developed between us, trying to get the better of this guy whose house we stayed at. Once the school year started, he was able to use his (truly) superior intellectual and knowledge skills to beat me down mentally. This continued all through middle school. What's worse, he ws the most popular person in the grade, since all his mind-bullying was done behind metaphorically closed doors. If I didn't pretend to like him in front of others, I feared I would become an outcast of the school's society. So, you see, he had me in a corner, driving me mad.

Now, I am in my freshman year of high school. And what do you know, he goes to the same high school as I do, too! How will I handle this year, where the competitiveness is fiercer than ever? Who knows? One thing is certain: it's going to be different. I will refuse to back down. Just today, on the bus to the library from which I am writing this message, I have revealed to two of my peers what until now I dared not tell, the story of our bitter past. How did they react? Surprise. Consolation. Anger(towards my bully). I wonder...

Please pray for me. Pray that I will have the wisdom to do the right thing. Pray that God will watch over me. Thank you.

knivetsil