Dave wrote:Thanks for passing this along, Paul.
The harm that bullying can do... wow.
I was outbid for "Katherine Smiles" this week... seems like this is a good way to pass along what I didn't spend on your drawing.
To think in this day and age after coming so far...
I faced brutally (physical, mental, emotional) abusive racism growing up, and people constantly threatening to deport my Mother(who learned all she needed to become a naturalised citizen, and taught me to read and write before I was five while she learned the language), who they could not, and when I pointed out that fact, it got me hurt even more. I WAS forced to give up my heritage, or suffer more abuse. There were three choices back then(Black, White, Other), and I was not considered a person of colour(Which I am, just not in a pre-defined way), I was "Other", which was a sign stating it was okay to pick on me. They forced my Mother to stop teaching me about the beautiful people I came from(both Polish and Korean), stating that because she chose America, that was what she had to raise me as. I am jealous of anyone that is naturally bilingual. I am, however, fiercely supportive of the school of thought that if you decide to live here, you need to go through what my Mother and Great Grandparents did, and learn the language, rules, and governmental system, and become legitimate citizens.
As I got older, the bullying did not stop, but got more sophisticated, and I then became the target of female bullying. I was called many names(some of which I had never heard before, being a nice Catholic girl--yeah, I've heard
all the jokes, but I really lived the ideals). Which caused another sort of bullying, because my Mother was born in a country that had Christian and Non-Christian religions, so they automatically assumed she was Godless, and treated me as worse. Being half Korean, I had good genes, meaning I was naturally willowy as a youth, relatively attractive, and automatically shamed as a well, worse than a streetwalker. I also was shamed about my almond eyes, and dark olive complexion, so I tried to hide from the sun to "whiten" my skin, and taped my eyes at night trying to "train" them to not be my shape.
I was so skinny, so I was constantly bullied about my weight(that was normal for me, no matter what I ate), and learned to run very fast, and be flexible to vault myself away from the bullies. I had my very long hair(think Crystal Gayle, then add a foot), cut all the time, had various things thrown in it, including various chemicals. I was bullied for being mix raced, for being a free-thinker, for being a nerd, for being smart, for being an artist, for shunning company(I blame Aspergers{which I did not find out about until my son was diagnosed with Autism, as when I was growing up, there was retarded or normal--and I was called that one all throughout K-5 by all but two of the teachers} for that one before bullying, but the bullies did not help that either).
THis was my anthem after I graduated...I hoped that my children would grow up in this sort of world, instead of the one I grew up in. Nobody should have to suffer this.
My nine year old thus far has not been bullied, and has been taught at his first school to accept and love himself for his differences and love everyone else for theirs, and has done his best to bring it forward to his new school, and I am certain will do so for any other school he is in. It's my dream that every child would attend such a school and learn these principles I was raised up with(but unfortunately did not have shared back with me), and raise my child with, and that all people everywhere are colour blind to differences.
This is one phrase I learned in many languages, and I hope everyone one day will learn it as well:
Życie jest piękne(Polish)
인생은 아름답다(insaeng-eun aleumdabda)(Korean)--a bit different depending
La vie est belle(French)
La vita è bella(Italian)
La vida es bella(Spanish)
生命是美麗的(Shēngmìng shì měilì de)(CHinese)--a bit different depending
人生は素晴らしい。(Jinsei wa subarashī)(Japanese)--a bit different depending
Life is beautiful
Can I dream of a world where bullying is only a bad dream?
