Growing up is never an easy task in a person’s life. While us as individuals are constantly evolving, bullying can only be thought of as a nightmare.As I metamorphosed in my elementary and middle school years I endured a lot of bulling.
I wasn’t exactly the skinniest girl in the class room as a fourth grader, and it was because of this kid always made fun of me. Being overweight still shouldn’t have given them an excuse to bully me or anyone for that matter. The bullying got so bad to the point that my sister had to come and speak to my teacher since I would get home crying because the kids made fun of me. The worst part of this bullying was that my mom had just passed away and I felt as if the kids’ harassments were making the death of my only parent painfully unbearable than it already was. The constant taunting and sadness worsened to the point where I had an emotional breakdown in my elementary school’s bathroom. I gathered my broken self in the farthest corner of the bathroom and cried for my mother to return, cried for the bullying to end, and for me to die. After that event, my teacher, Mr. Ward, actually had to go to length of teaching the whole class about how wrong it was to bully. I remember he read us a story about a chubby girl that was getting bullied and the popular girls became friends with her to help her lose weight.
The bullying eventually stopped for a while but it, eventually worsened in the 7th grade. I came to the United States at the very young age of 6 from Mexico but I didn’t have any legal documentation. During 7th grade I was bullied because I was an immigrant. Two boys would constantly bully me by telling me to “go back to your country”, “this isn’t Mexico, talk English”, and saying other mean stuff that Immigrants were just nuisances to the United States. I actually fought back because I realized that they were being bullies and I reminded them that their ancestors had been immigrants themselves since their last names were Lara and Maldonado. It’s sad that they denied their own roots while I embraced mine. Years later I became a ward of the court and gained my US Residency.

My experience with bullying at such a young age made my growing up a little tougher during the closing of my elementary school years and in my 7th grade school year. In the end, I hope those that read my story realize that it doesn’t matter if you are overweight or are from a different country. There is no excuse for bullying. Bullying is a social syndrome that should be suppressed so the next generation won’t have to endure it as I and thousands of kids also experienced.