I had never really seen it as bullying until this year, actually. I hated all the kids in my class (those upper class a-holes who used daddy's car and mommy's credit card), and I was actually happy that they never talked to me. In fact, I really hated it when they went out of their way to converse with me.
It might be because I'm an introvert; it might be because I didn't like how they treated other kids in school. Either way, i never went out of my way to be nice or befriend any of them.
When I was younger, of course I was bullied by the class bully (he liked to kick water in my face when I was tying my shoes), but that's just what happens in elementary school. You get bullied for being slightly different (in my case, I had a twin and diabetes), but you get over it. In class, when the guidance counselor would come in and lecture us on bullying and how to prevent it, they never said that ignoring your classmate was a form of harassment. I don't think that really was seen as a problem until recently.
So of course I didn't realize these kids were bullying me. I hated them probably as much as they didn't like me, so where is the harassment? It did surprise me when my teacher, Mme Haveman, saw it as such. It hadn't really bothered me until she stood up for me. It made me realize that I didn't have to put up with these high school jerks alone - teachers actually do care. Teachers notice things that even students don't.
Out of all my experiences in my years of school, this was the one that I remember the fondest.
Good topic for your first paper--can you go further by adding specific events, incidents, and actions to more fully illustrate each paragraph?
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