Jeffrey+L’s+OpEd+Article

It pains me to see what the level of bullying has become today. Thankfully, I have yet to see any incident with bullying in high schools in Ventura County. However, the most problematic places where bullying gets out of hand happens to be in elementary schools and middle schools.

Balboa middle school was hands-down the worst school years I have ever had in my life. Back in 6th grade, I would constantly dread going to school because every day during P.E., I would be harassed by a group of 8th graders. The P.E. teachers saw this and did nothing. What was I going to do? Tell the nonchalant teachers that I was being picked on? Unfortunately, my mentality (and many others too) had become “grow up and don’t tattle-tell”. I soon made some new friends and they too, along with me, became picked on. Eventually, the group of bullies branched off to pick on some other kid and I was free… for now.

 Fast forward one year and the bullying crisis had intensified so much that a fellow colleague was pulled out of school to be home-schooled (he’s back and well in Buena now). The principal called for a school meeting to address this bullying, but nothing changed. The oppressors continued to oppress and the silent remained silent. The most targeted location for bullying back in Balboa was after school at the bus stops. I had a friend who I waited with every day who was picked on constantly. We were really mad whenever that happened, and one day, we agreed to use force if necessary to stop this.

 As big bully Bob walked up to do his routinely smack-my-friend-in-the-face and pull-on-his-jacket-zipper, my friend and I surged up and shoved the rascal over some piled-up backpacks, which he tripped over. I was pretty sure some supervisor saw him landing flat on his back, but it didn’t really matter since they would always turn a blind eye whenever something happened. That moment felt great. Surprisingly, my friend and I were left alone since then, and the bully went to go pick on some more passive victims.

 Seeing the disenfranchised being taken advantaged of still irks me to the very core today. I guess the moral of this story is: don’t be a hector, it might well come back and bite you in the butt someday. I have no toleration for bullies.

As a side note, what's up with this petition? https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/californias-sca-5-against-equal-protection-clause-14th-amendment-us-constitution/TlHCfZJY