A couple of years ago, back in the days where I was studying as a primary 4 student, I would recall being bullied by a tall and plump student in primary six. The bully was always picking on me during recess at the canteen, he would grab me by the back of my neck, bring me to the area behind the canteen and force me to give him all of my daily allowances. As my family was not a well-to-do family, I was reluctant to give up my money. However, the bully and his so-called ‘gang’ would surround me and try to grab at my wallet. I would try to defend myself at the best that I could but to no avail. The bullies were at least twice my size and they were 2 years older. Eventually they would return an empty wallet to me and run off, laughing to themselves.
Day by day, I would go through the day without eating anything at school. I would always look forward to the dismissal bell ringing, because that would mean that I could finally enjoy a meal at home. And every morning, I would dread going to school, because that would mean many hours of starving to me. As weeks and weeks passed, I grew more and more impatient and frustrated with the bully. One day, as the bully was extorting money from me, I could not control my anger and used all of my strength and to my surprise, I managed to escape their grasp and ran for the discipline master’s office. As I came face to face with the discipline master, I described the situation I go through every day. The discipline master saw the desperation that was on my face and went down to the canteen immediately, in search for the bullies I mentioned to him.
Once the discipline master got hold of the bullies, he started reprimanding them. The bullies, however, did not look like they were even sorry. But as the discipline master threatened to call their parents, the bullies started to pay attention and begged him not to call their parents and they vowed not to bully me or anyone else again or they would face the music.
From this incident, I learnt that if we are bullied, we must know how to seek help from others and not suffer in silence.
