Girl Bullies
September 4, 2008
LETTERS TO A BULLIED GIRL is a heartbreakingly beautiful compilation of letters sparked by the revelation -- in a town newspaper -- that 15-year old Olivia Gardner was being bullied relentlessly. Two teenage sisters, who didn't know Olivia, heard about her torture, and began a campaign to send letters of support to her. The letters mushroomed -- the girls expected a few letters, thousands spilled in -- from former bullies, people who had been bullied, are being bullied, people who watched others bullying. Boys, girls, men, women, kids and retirees. They are messages of hope, and hang in there, and even sorrow.
These words leave a stain.
If you've ever been bullied, you remember.
I was lucky. I adopted the role of an observer, a journalist, the class historian, everything I could think of that would let me into all the groups in school. I was never included in the groups at school, though.
In our neighborhood, it was Amy-and-Debbie. They were the bullies. It wasn't one name -- it was Amy-and-Debbie. And the bullying they exacted was being excluded from their little club. At times, they would tease open the door a bit, only to slam it in our faces. Even so, it saddened me to hear -- just a few years ago -- that tragedy had befallen their families.
There's a story in the book from a guy named Jack who thanks Olivia for putting her story out there for the world to know. He writes that by doing this, she is helping to bring an end to this soul-wrenching torture that so many have endured over the years.
I wonder sometimes what happened to a few schoolmates who suffered the worst. And, I wonder about one girl, new to our school. There were rumors that her father did "bad things" to her. She was walking home one day, and I ran to her, wanting to share my stories with her, wanting to hear if her stories were true, wanting to cut her pain. I didn't utter a word. She looked at me with wide-open eyes, and didn't say a word. She walked away. I never saw her again. Word was she left the school. She left me with no one else to talk to who would understand. I stayed silent. Now I speak. Putting words to the unspeakable helps transcend the trauma.
My heart goes out to Olivia, to the girl who couldn't talk, and to Amy-and-Debbie.
LETTERS TO A BULLIED GIRL is a heartbreakingly beautiful compilation of letters sparked by the revelation -- in a town newspaper -- that 15-year old Olivia Gardner was being bullied relentlessly. Two teenage sisters, who didn't know Olivia, heard about her torture, and began a campaign to send letters of support to her. The letters mushroomed -- the girls expected a few letters, thousands spilled in -- from former bullies, people who had been bullied, are being bullied, people who watched others bullying. Boys, girls, men, women, kids and retirees. They are messages of hope, and hang in there, and even sorrow.
These words leave a stain.
If you've ever been bullied, you remember.
I was lucky. I adopted the role of an observer, a journalist, the class historian, everything I could think of that would let me into all the groups in school. I was never included in the groups at school, though.
In our neighborhood, it was Amy-and-Debbie. They were the bullies. It wasn't one name -- it was Amy-and-Debbie. And the bullying they exacted was being excluded from their little club. At times, they would tease open the door a bit, only to slam it in our faces. Even so, it saddened me to hear -- just a few years ago -- that tragedy had befallen their families.
There's a story in the book from a guy named Jack who thanks Olivia for putting her story out there for the world to know. He writes that by doing this, she is helping to bring an end to this soul-wrenching torture that so many have endured over the years.
I wonder sometimes what happened to a few schoolmates who suffered the worst. And, I wonder about one girl, new to our school. There were rumors that her father did "bad things" to her. She was walking home one day, and I ran to her, wanting to share my stories with her, wanting to hear if her stories were true, wanting to cut her pain. I didn't utter a word. She looked at me with wide-open eyes, and didn't say a word. She walked away. I never saw her again. Word was she left the school. She left me with no one else to talk to who would understand. I stayed silent. Now I speak. Putting words to the unspeakable helps transcend the trauma.
My heart goes out to Olivia, to the girl who couldn't talk, and to Amy-and-Debbie.
Labels: book review., bullies, Emily and Sarah Buder, LETTERS TO A BULLIED GIRL, Olivia Gardner, transcending the trauma
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 10:12 PM
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