TW:Bullying

I belong to one of the very first generations which had social media when we were still in our formative years in school. It’s safe to say that although it had some ups, most of it was still majorly downs. Now, there was a new playground for bullying.

There was a Facebook group in my early senior days called F.A.M.E(Friends are my everything). It was an exclusive group which allowed only the ‘cool’ kids of the 8th and 9th Grade to enter. Being accepted into the group was a sort of A-list branding. I gave it my everything to get added into that group. Started listening to rap music, hanging out with the cool kids (pictured above. L-R: Me, cool kid) who were nice enough to let in some ‘uncool’ kids into their circle. After a year of working towards it, I finally got accepted into the group in year 9.

Then one day, I had a medical incident which resulted in me having a bit of an accident in school. As I lay in the school bathroom in pain, a guy who was there said with a snicker, ‘this HAS to go on FAME’ and he whipped out his phone and posted about how I, a MEMBER of the group had soiled his pants. Conveniently leaving out the whole medical reason behind it.

My life was miserable after that. The online ridicule I was subjected to put me into a depressive state. My entire personality changed. I was reduced to the ‘kid who soiled himself in 9th grade’. It was out of sheer luck, that I had to switch schools for totally unrelated reasons. I got a fresh start at being a senior. People have a long memory but the internet never forgets.

Kids can be really mean. I’ve realised that now. But I guess that’s all a part of growing up. Half of the things we have today learned are wrong is because as kids we may have done something similar inadvertently, not knowing any better. It’s our mistakes which have shaped us into being better people.