How I Face Bullies

By: Alyssa Showalter

In my opinion, words, good or bad, do not need to be wasted on bullies. They broke the rule of, “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” So why should you say anything to them?

In my childhood, I spent too many words on the kids who teased me and bullied me. I started my fights literally, kicking and screaming. So, instead of my bullies getting into trouble, I was punished.

I asked my mom and dad what to do. Both simply said, “Ignore them. They’ll leave you alone.”

I kept fighting, first asked them to “please” stop. That never works, right? So I endured years of the name calling and had food thrown at me. Even my backpack was stolen. I screamed until I didn’t have any breath left. That was when I mastered, “the look”.

What is the look, you ask? It’s simple. I just stared at my bullies as if they were the most boring people on earth. I would endure their hateful comments and torments, to only respond with silence and a stare that sent them walking away with disgust, disappointment and fear painted on their faces.

It was very hard for me to bite my tongue, but I did it.

After years, of this stare that my Dad called a scowl, they left me alone because they couldn’t get me to react. Along with the fact that I scared them, and made them feel really self-conscious.

My fiery temper was used for their amusement, and was the first thing I took from them. I took away their reason to tease me, which left them ineffective. When they told me I was ugly with red hair and freckles, I simply stared back and told them, “I do not care about my looks as much as you do.” Leaving them flustered that I implied that they were vain and shallow. I proved this to them, by spending my high school years looking like a homeless grunge fan.  It worked and they had no more comments.

I don’t have the golden words of wisdom that will change your lives for the better. I will tell you the truth about growing up redheaded and how I dealt with redhead bullying.

It does get better.

The world teases us because they see something they love and fear. We were born with natural red hair and we have something that they cannot have or control. Both in our appearances and in personality, we all stand out from the crowds.  Your bullies won’t admit it, but deep down they want to be like you.

Rock it like a Redhead!