Anti-Bullying Week: “Triumphs Taste So Much Sweeter”

As you already know, YakkityYaks has joined forces with past and present Reality TV stars and fans just like you in honor of Anti-Bullying Week. We continue to feature stories from Reality TV personalities, members in our YakkityYaks forum, and fans from Twitter and Facebook. In an effort to join forces and increase awareness, we encourage you to share these stories with your friends and family and encourage continuous efforts to make a difference! We all are capable and we just hope that this motivates and encourages each and every one of us to take a stand and put a stop to bullying once and for all. YakkityYaks, don’t talk smack!

Read on below for another personal accounts from a fan on Twitter who felt so moved to submit their own personal and touching story, in addition to all of our other coverage today. Names have been changed to protect identities, but the stories are straight from the heart and unedited.

If you are interested in participating in our anti-bullying initiative by sharing your story, please contact JDMontgomery@yakkityyaks.com or ShellyBB13@me.com (Big Brother’s Shelly). Each and every story can bring about great change.

We also want to announce an exciting addition to our special features this week. Everyone who submits a story will be eligible to win a phone call from a reality TV personality!

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“When I was a kid, and perhaps my young adult life, I assumed bullying had to do with being gay. I thought, only gay kids get bullied. Kind of like, how some associate racism only having to do with African-Americans. We all know both aren’t true. While many gay youth experience bullying, & many African Americans experience racism, we’re actually all prey to the predator we call, the bully.
Growing up in football loving- Midwestern Ohio, and attending private Catholic school, I experienced bullying at it’s worst. I remember what I just called “the 6th graders” (God they still scare me and I’m 30). One day running late into school I got stopped by one. The BIG one. Why the heck isn’t he in class already I thought? I’ll never forget his words that day, “listen you little faggot, we’re all watching you, if you run around here acting like a faggot or try out for basketball, I will bash your fucking face in, & kill you”.

Wow, right? Needless to say, I didn’t try out for basketball till 7th grade (when this 6th graders were 9th graders & I felt the coast was clear). Ironically one of our basketball practice drills were called ‘Suicides’. Where you ran the court back & forth four times till you just drop. It wasn’t so much my bullies words, or threats that scared me. It’s how I knew the teachers turned a blind eye, how the parents did nothing, how there was NO ONE to go to that made me feel hopeless.

On a side note, it’s a common misconception that gays, especially men, don’t like sports. Ever think we were scared or threatened out of playing? Funny how our military JUST repealed DADT, trying to scare people out of serving & protecting our great nation.

This leads me to my conclusion, that is, we are all bullied in some way, shape or form. Maybe we are the bully.  I recently read that as a child, Eminem was so severely beaten by bullies as a child he was in a coma for 5 days. I think it’s why gays were never offended by his lyrics, we knew it came from a source of pain. Heterosexuals are called faggots everyday. Young girls, who don’t even understand sexuality are called sluts & whores. I’d rather be the bullied than the bully. In a bizarre way it built character & strength, & made all my successes and triumphs taste so much sweeter. My face was never bashed in, but somewhere, lingering in the back of my mind I still think it could be.

Talk to your Mom, or Dad, or neighbor, someone you trust. Dont take matters into your own hands. It really does, as they say, “get better”, and think of things from someone else’s perspective. Who or what is that bully scared of that he or she is taunting you? That kid that threatened me? He was BIG. Overweight actually, for a 6th grader. I wonder how many times he was called ‘Fat’ on a daily basis. I wonder if he has kids now, & how as a parent he feels if his kids are being bullied. Remember, we all grow up eventually. The person you want to outcast, could be the very person who saves your life. I hope by writing this piece, I saved yours.

Ps – I grew up, have tons of friends & those days I was bullied seem like they never actually happened, but they did, & I survived.

~D.”

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