re: the Facebook post from the former classmate...
Something about that has been bothering me since I read it and I have only just now been able to figure out what it is. While I think the former classmate was writing from their heart and had no nefarious intentions, was it really THEIR story to share? Shouldn't it have come from the victim? I mean, maybe she didn't want people to know that she was known as the "cootie girl" and that she smelled or that people made fun of her. Heck, maybe SHE didn't even know that until she read it! I've been in situations where I thought I was amgonst friends, and was really enjoying myself, until someone came along and disclosed the fact that people were making fun of me. It felt awful. What if she felt the same way? All this time she's been thinking that that was the best year of her life and that she was surrounded by friends and now she finds out that they were making fun of her. (Just throwing that out there; chances are good that she knew at the time.)
If SHE had been the one who told it first, if she'd been the one to come out and say, "I was bullied and called 'Cootie Girl' in school, etc. etc." and then the former student had stepped forward and told their side then it might be different. But I just feel very uncomfortable that she was almost "outed" that way.
I was bullied badly in school. After a year of torment my mom allowed me to change. She later received a phone call from the principal who informed her that, on the last day of school, some of the kids were getting together and getting me a "farewell bouquet"-a bouquet that included a sprig of poison ivy hidden in it. Because I am deathly allergic to it and they knew it.
How would I feel if one of my former bullies made a viral post about the things that kids used to say about me? I don't want people to know some of those things! I probably wouldn't like it. I might even feel victimized all over again.
I "shared" the post myself at the time so it wasn't like got bent out of shape about it. Something was pecking at my mind, though, and making me uncomfortable at the time. This is what it was.
