The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

SUMMER MAKI
MELANIE SMITH, TEACHER
Josiah Quincy Upper School, Boston, MA
Tears blurred my vision. My cheeks were bright red. I could hear kids
whispering, “Summer is crying!” as they pulled their knees to their chests.
My gym teacher came over to me and guided me out of the gym. I felt sick.
I didn’t know what to do. I knew I couldn’t cry in front of my classmates, but
I couldn’t hold an ocean of tears behind my eyelids. The school counselor
brought me into a private room and hugged me tightly. Tears stained my shirt
and I was hyperventilating. I took deep breaths and struggled to speak. You
may wonder what caused someone to be so upset. Bullying. I have dealt with
bullying my whole life. I have always tried to ignore it, but it always caught
up to me. Being bullied is scary. It takes courage to stand up to a bully.
This all started in fifth grade. I had signed up for student council, and it was
campaigning week. This was when everyone got posters and hung them up and
tried to convince everyone to vote for them. I had always wanted to be part of
the student council. I thought that people would have more respect for me and
that it would be a fun opportunity. My friends and I were the first ones to hang
up our posters. We were so excited for everyone to see them. My posters had
reasons why everyone should vote for me, and I added some glitter and stickers
so people would know I meant business.
After a quick math lesson, it was time for a snack break. My friends and I lined
up and admired all the new posters from other students.
“Well, yours has glitter, but that one has a funny joke on it,” Fiona said as she
twirled her hair.
“Yeah, but that one is giant!” Tasnem said, pointing to a giant poster with
bubble letters on it.
This excitement disappeared in seconds once people saw my posters.
“Summer, are you seriously trying to make the school pick up trash? That’s
pathetic. No one is going to vote for you,” said another candidate.
Trust me, that’s not what the poster said. The posters were about putting trash
cans on the playgrounds so kids wouldn’t litter! But, that rumor spread like
wildfire. Everyone started believing what he said. My chances were doomed.
This was not all that the bullies did to me.
“I SHOWED COURAGE
BY STANDING UP
FOR MYSELF, EVEN
THOUGH IT WAS HARD,
UNCOMFORTABLE,
AND CHALLENGING.”
I was lining up for lunch and walked over to the new posters. I was admiring
the new sparkly poster when I realized that all of my posters were gone. Every
one of them was gone. I turned to see the kids in the hallway staring at me.
Like they were waiting for me to cry. I had been humiliated in front of
everyone. Everyone knew how pathetic my posters were.
This was my breaking point. I was going to drop out of the race. The bully had
gotten to me, and I couldn’t do it anymore. But this did not affect what the
bullies did. They didn’t care that I wasn’t running for student council anymore.
They didn’t care that they hurt me. They just kept on going.
I waved to my friends as I sat down at the lunch table.
“I’m sorry about that, Summer. But you can’t quit!” Fiona pleaded.
“I know but—OW!” I screamed. Something yanked my hair.
I turned around to see another candidate. What more do you want from me?
“What do you want? Just leave me alone!” I screamed at him.
“It was just an accident. No wonder no one wanted to vote for you.” He rolled
his eyes and walked away.
I looked up to see EVERYONE staring at me. I knew what they were all
thinking. They were all judging me. My face turned beet red. I just embarrassed
myself in front of everyone! They probably think I am a terrible person!
Just when you think the bullies will leave you alone, they never will. It was
sports club, last period. I just had to get through this. I walked down the hall
to see posters saying, “Don’t vote for Summer! She wants to make us her
servants!” I was done. I tore the poster off the wall and stormed down the
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
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