Selma’s Story Time – 7/18/14
Mrs. Stockton loved to hear the school bus as it came down her street every morning, picking the kids in the neighborhood up for school. She had fond memories of riding the school bus, sitting with her best friend Shelly Waters every day. They giggled a lot and talked about wanting the clothes and hair ribbons that the popular kids wore.
She also had some bad experiences associated with the bus. There was a kid named Johnny Kidler. He was called the Frankton bully. Everyone knew how mean he was to the other kids. Mrs. Stockton was one that Johnny chose to pick on, just because she was shorter than the other kids. Since they were the only two that got on and off the bus at their stop, he would follow her home every day calling her shrimp and shorty.
He would sing this little song, in the teasing melody that we have all heard,
“Shirley is so shrimpy.
Shirley is a shorty.
Shirley is so shrimpy
Shirley is a shorty”
He would sing that song over and over again. Mrs. Stockton remembered having many nightmares about it. She would ask him over and over again to stop. That made him do it more.
Mrs. Stockton remembered what her grandmother used to say about mean kids,
“Don’t pay any attention to those mean kids and they will go away.”
That was easier said than done. While it was happening to her, she couldn’t see any way out. She felt she had to take the punishment Johnny was dealing out. There was no way she could tell someone, a parent, a teacher, or someone about it to make him stop, she felt that would just make it worse. It is a normal feeling to have, the bully wants you to feel that way. That’s the only power that they have over you, and that is why they are doing the bullying in the first place.
People would say that Johnny was just teasing Mrs. Stockton, he didn’t physically hurt her. Well, he did hurt her, emotionally. That can be just as bad or even worse than physically hurting someone. Neither one is ok to do to anybody.
Johnny eventually stopped teasing her, because it finally wasn’t fun anymore. Mrs. Stockton had to put up with it until he stopped, because she was afraid to get help. Don’t be afraid to get help. Situations like these have led to suicide, because kids don’t feel like there is a way out. Don’t be one of those kids. You are a special someone to someone, your family, your friends, even your teachers. You are important and deserve to be treated right.