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Bullying, suicide, and "it gets better"
Oct. 22nd, 2010 02:41 pmThis whole "it gets better" thing is irritating me.
I was bullied in school. I don't know anyone who wasn't, or at the very least never perceived themselves to be. ( TL;DR - tried to kill myself and failed )
It won't magically "get better". Nobody wakes up one day to find it's a brand new shiny world where nobody teases them or is mean to them anymore. They won't have the world suddenly accept their difference with tolerance. That isn't how it works.
It gets easier to deal with, especially if they survive the crazy teenage hormones and mood swings. Becoming an adult means finding coping mechanisms. It takes effort and work, but it's possible. It takes realizing that, sometimes, people are assholes and that it literally isn't you, it's them - and then writing that off.
I wish I could go back in time and introduce me to myself. I wouldn't tell her "it gets better". I would tell her, "Hey, that black empty space where you see your future? You're wrong about that. It's going to be one /hell/ of an adventure. You're going to do some awesome things and you're going to meet the most incredible, fantastic people. This horrible part of your life? It won't last that long. You come out the other side a different, but better, person."
I'd also tell her last week's lotto numbers, because really, if you could time travel, wouldn't you? :P
I was bullied in school. I don't know anyone who wasn't, or at the very least never perceived themselves to be. ( TL;DR - tried to kill myself and failed )
It won't magically "get better". Nobody wakes up one day to find it's a brand new shiny world where nobody teases them or is mean to them anymore. They won't have the world suddenly accept their difference with tolerance. That isn't how it works.
It gets easier to deal with, especially if they survive the crazy teenage hormones and mood swings. Becoming an adult means finding coping mechanisms. It takes effort and work, but it's possible. It takes realizing that, sometimes, people are assholes and that it literally isn't you, it's them - and then writing that off.
I wish I could go back in time and introduce me to myself. I wouldn't tell her "it gets better". I would tell her, "Hey, that black empty space where you see your future? You're wrong about that. It's going to be one /hell/ of an adventure. You're going to do some awesome things and you're going to meet the most incredible, fantastic people. This horrible part of your life? It won't last that long. You come out the other side a different, but better, person."
I'd also tell her last week's lotto numbers, because really, if you could time travel, wouldn't you? :P
