Finally jumping on the #WorthRevisit ing Wednesday bandwagon with this post about bullying: causes, effects, prevention. Go visit Allison’s Reconciled to You for more good stuff.
I’ve heard from a handful of readers who have really responded to the issue of bullying as portrayed in Don’t You Forget About Me. It seems the scars never really do go away. As for myself, I don’t think I could’ve written the book myself if I hadn’t long since put my experiences as a victim of bullying into perspective, thereby forgiving those who’d hurt me. A vengeance novel is far less satisfying to the reader, because it’s frankly about the writer and not about the shared human experience. Anyway, I didn’t think I had any more work to do regarding that area of my past. I got healing, ultimate joy, compassion and a book out of it. What more did I need?
Apparently, as a mom, I needed this article, which I stumbled across in the feed of a Facebook friend. In all our efforts to curb…
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Erin McCole Cupp 
I’m not saying boredom wouldn’t contribute to bullying (I mean, if there isn’t much to do, you create your own entertainment, right?) But I was only bullied in elementary school, and two of the worst were by teachers, so I don’t think boredom figured into that. The kids… well, as far as I could tell, some of them just couldn’t help criticizing others for what they saw as “wrong” with them. I think most of that motive was for them to make themselves look or feel better about their own situations, or to elevate themselves in the school pecking order. I lived in South Georgia… we had miles of green grass, trees, swings, jungle gyms, basketball courts, anything a kid could wish for at recess. In high school, nobody picked on me anymore. The kid I witnessed being bullied though… it seemed to be the same kind of thing. He was easy pickings for a group of boys (3 or 4 boys, that I recall) who for some reason took joy in putting others down. I never understood those boys. I remember once I asked one of them (via anonymous note in class) “Why are you so mean?” and he said out loud, “Whoever wrote this can kiss my ass.” I never found out why he was mean… but to this day I see his name as a Facebook suggestion now and then, and never add him.