The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXX

Nathan Greene
Aaron Cohen, Teacher
Jackson Mann K-8 School
Have you been insulted for the way you look? Have you ever had friends
who pushed you away because you changed how you looked? Well I have,
and it’s all because I stopped cutting my hair. I really, really hate getting
haircuts because it feels weird having bits of hair get into my eyes. Plus, I
just eventually liked the way I looked and felt with long hair. I don’t mind
so much when grownups are thoughtless or rude about it, but it really hurt
coming from my friends.
One year I was one of the more popular kids in my class, and the next year I
was shunned for having long hair. I was confused that only a few of my older
friends would hang out with me, but even they wouldn’t do it at school. Every
day we would work in groups, and every day no one would work with me.
They even convinced the teacher to let them have a group of three so that I
wouldn’t have a partner, which made me lonely. In class they moved my desk
to the corner away from everyone else. I moved it back, but they always moved
it to the corner.
Every day I would be at the lunch table nobody used. At some point the bullies
caught on that no one liked me, and everything went downhill. I was pushed
around and insulted, even punched. I was tripped sometimes, and when I fell
into the person in front of me, they’d say I was pushing. I told the teacher, but
they never caught the bullies. Every day I would come home tired and sad.
Then they started putting their things in my desk and saying that I stole them.
They got caught for that. But then they just started making things up when the
teachers couldn’t see me. Whenever they did something bad they said I started
it, and they got away with it. I was so mad whenever they did that. It wasn’t fair
that they never got in trouble for what they did.
My mom showed me a video on bullying. The guy said that if I ignore bullies
then they wouldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing me uncomfortable. It
helped, and one day when a few bullies were making fun of me for having
long hair I said, “Stop. I don’t like that you make fun of me and I’d like
you to stop.” They didn’t listen, but that small moment of courage was
enough for me.
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