Hey Kid You Are Not Alone

Unless you were bullied in school, you have no idea just how much of a toll the constant torment by others can take on you. I have never spoken of it and never wanted to until now, but I was bullied in school on a daily basis from elementary through high school and because of this I hated school, but I did survive school. I am fifty-two years old now, but I can recall the torment that I withstood during my school years in more vivid detail than I wish to remember. The stories I could share would make tears run down the toughest faces. Some bullied kids do all they can to keep from going to school to avoid their tormentors. Other bullied kids go to school in constant fear of what new torment awaits them. Many bullied kids walk the halls of our schools in silent frustration over the fact that no one notices or seems to care. Many bullied kids suffer in quiet desperation over the emotional anguish that have them caught between the tears flowing steadily inside them and the absolute unfettered rage they feel toward those causing their pain and those who only pretend to care. It has been nearly a half century since I was first bullied in school and I cannot thank people enough for trying to raise public awareness to this painful issue now. No kid should ever have to just endure or survive their school years or die by their own hands to silence the suffering caused by bullying. As a school bus driver, I strongly urge students to let their bus driver know if they are being bullied on the bus, so we can watch for signs of it. Many of us do care and will try to stop it on our buses if we see it going on. Bus drivers are easily replaceable scapegoats for school administration when there is a systematic failure and they need someone to blame for an incident. They refuse to recognize that driving the bus keeps us from seeing many situations building on our buses. Parents refuse to recognize and realize that the two most unsafe points of their child's school day is at their bus stop where they are unsupervised and on their school bus where supervision is dangerously limited because the bus driver has their back turned to them and can only watch them occasionally through a small mirror while driving a vehicle big enough to go through a house. Students speak up and talk to your bus driver. Let us help you try to make your ride on our buses a little better. Thank You Mr. Kim Morrison aka Mr. "K" I wrote this piece when I joined The Bully Project. As you can see, this is a issue that is near and dear me on a very personal level. My very first draft did not have the school bus driver stuff on it. I included all that stuff just before I posted it up on the Bully Project website