issue BRIDGE 03/2010 | EXTRA ARTICLES
I
n the November issue of Bridge we
explore the topic of bullying. Here are
two stories of students who experienced
bullying at school.The first story about Jana,
who was a victim of psychological bullying
at elementary school for years, is mentioned
in the magazine. Here you can read the full
version.The second story is narrated by a boy
who faced bullying at a vocational school1
.To
escape the taunts2
, he started bullying others.
Both the stories were written some time after
the bullying took place, so you can see how the
traumatic experiences influenced the future
life of the victims.
Jana’s story was adapted from
www.minimalizacesikany.cz. On this website
you can find many other stories as well as
advice on how to prevent bullying and how
to deal with it.The second story was adapted
from a public blog.The narrator’s name was
changed.
They called me Black Death
During the first two years at elementary
school only small things happened to
me – missing books, rubbish in my school
bag (such as leftovers of my schoolmates’
snacks).
I never told anybody about it because
I thought it was all right. As time passed,
I started to realise that it was not all right.
But it was too late. I had no friends. I was
nobody.
Once two schoolmates came running
over to me. One tripped me up3
and held
me on the ground, the other one kicked me
cruelly. Then they ran away and left me
there. I was not even able to stand up. The
physical pain passed, but I can’t forget the
things that followed.
Except for a few classmates, everybody
excluded4
me from their company. They
called me names whenever I approached
them. They said that I was a plague
(Black Death) and symbolically sanitised
everything I touched. It went so far that
I tried to kill myself several times. I was
afraid to go to school. Nobody wanted to
sit next to me. When I needed to borrow
a pencil, I had to borrow it from the teacher.
I made a big mistake then – I decided
that I was relatively safe if I became the
teacher’s shadow. I did not realise that I was
withdrawing into my own world and losing
universal human qualities.
I learnt to love animals because when
I felt really bad they could feel it. In the
seventh grade I began to practise a type
of martial arts5
hoping I would learn to
defend myself. But my self-confidence was
so low by that time that it did not help.
A small miracle happened, though. Two
girls from my former class took the same
course and we got close, so I had good
friends for the first time in my life. We did
not care about anybody else. Then the
entrance examinations to secondary school
came. Standing in front of the list of results
I shouted aloud joyfully: “Yes, I did it!”
So I went to a new school. I desperately
wished others would not pay attention to
me. I wanted a new life. Unfortunately,
I started on the wrong path6
. I tried to
get rid of painful memories by eating too
much. I put on weight; 13 kilograms during
half a year. Moreover, I had some family
problems. There was too much studying,
and I realised that I still felt anxious7
and in
danger. I had no communication skills and
I was unable to be among bigger groups of
people. On the one hand, I was free, but on
the other...? It went on like that for four years.
One day I looked after animals at an
exhibition which took place in our school.
When the event was over, a woman sat next
to me and started talking to me. She asked me
about my animals a lot and talked to me for
a long time. Later she said that her name was
Monika and she worked as a psychologist. It
took me a year to find the courage to come to
see her. I was told that I had a social phobia –
a fear of people. Monika was the first person
to whom I told my entire story. We met often
in the following months. She went to the
town with me. She taught me shopping and
things like that, which I had not been able to
handle at all.
I feel better today. I believe I can see
a new beginning. I won my life back.
Jana, Czech Republic
Bullying:
Both Sides of the Story
I still felt anxious
and in danger.
www.bridge-online.cz
discuss
1	How do you think Jana appeared to
her classmates?
2	Why did Jana’s classmates treat her
this way?
3	What are the symptoms of social
phobia?
4	Do you think that Jakub can be
considered a victim of bullying?
5	What other consequences apart from
eating disorders can bullying have?
6	Was Jakub justified in his actions?
7	Do you think he got over the bullying?
8	Can you imagine you would act
similarly in his situation?
Vocabulary
They called me Black Death
1	 vocational school [v@(U)"keIS(@)n(@)l] – učiliště
2	 taunts [tO;nts] – posměch
3	 to trip sb up – podrazit někomu nohy
4	 to exclude [Ik"sklu;d, Ek-] – vyloučit
5	 martial arts ["mA;S(@)l] – bojová
umění
6	 I started on the wrong path – šla
jsem na to špatným způsobem
7	 anxious – úzkostlivý
Bully or you will be bullied
8	 plumber ["plVm@] – instalatér
9	 corrupt [k@"rVpt] – zkažený
10	locker ["lQk@] – skříňka
11	 plumber’s hemp – instalatérské
konopí
12	 white-hot steel – žhavá ocel
13	 to blackmail – vydírat
14	digestion [dI"dZEstS(@)n, daI-] –
zažívání
15	 to trample ["tr&mp(@)l] – šlapat
16	to muster up ["mVst@] – posbírat
17	 to expel [Ik"spEl, Ek-] – vyloučit
18	to be suspicious of [s@"spIS@s] –
být podezíravý vůči
19	 to piss off (vulgar) – naštvat
Bully or you will be bullied
I had been quite a peaceful boy before
I entered a vocational school. I had never
been involved in a violent conflict, never
attacked anybody without a reason.
Than I entered a vocational school
for plumbers8
. Unfortunately, I did not
choose a good school... I would say I chose
the worst school in the whole city. It was
full of bullying, drugs, corrupt9
people
and bastards who had not been accepted
anywhere else.
At the school, an unwritten rule
governed: “Bully or you will be bullied!”
I had always hated such things, so it is
obvious how I ended up.
Someone may think that closing somebody
in a locker10
with plumber’s hemp11
and
setting it on fire, or pressing white-hot
steel12
on somebody’s hand or simply beating
others and blackmailing13
them is funny.
I was depressed as I had never experienced
anything like that. There were mornings when
I was crying and trying to persuade my mother
to let me stay at home because I just did not
want to go to school. She didn’t care
much. It affected my digestion14
even. I was
going deeper and deeper down, feeling
more and more desperate. I had to choose.
Either I would let them trample15
all over
me, or I would have to do something.
The change did not happen suddenly.
It was more like in military service: First
I mustered up16
courage to defend myself.
Even if they beat me, I wasn’t passive at
least. As time passed, they were less and less
aggressive towards me. I went to a higher
level. Together with people whom I once
hated so much, I started to bully others –
the guys who used to bully me. It got so far
that I felt like I had no enemy, like I could
do whatever I wanted. Eventually, I was
expelled17
from the school.
It was sweet to see the suffering of people
who used to hurt me. Even now I smile as
I write this, remembering what I was like at
the beginning and what I was like in the end.
I liked the school in a way. Bad experiences
like that can make you stronger. And I got
over it and went on.
However, I started to be suspicious
of18
people. I just don’t talk to many people
anymore. I was not like that before. Mostly,
I wanted to have a lot of friends, even if they
acted in an arrogant manner. Now, I’ve had
enough of that. About two years ago, a man
really pissed me off19
. He was somehow
unreliable and God knows what else. So
I just stopped talking to him. Now I do not
talk to so many people that I could write
a long list of them. Bad experiences drove
me to it. I don’t think there is anything bad
about the way I behave. I will avoid all the
bastards and only have nice people around.
When I am on talking terms with somebody
– and have been for a long time – the person
can be sure that he is my true friend.
Jakub, Czech Republic
It was sweet to
see the suffering
of people who
used to hurt me.