First things first: Happy Veterans Day to all who are serving, those who have served, those who gave their lives for this country, and to the families that have supported them all through everything. I thank you for my freedom and for everything that you have provided me!
When I tell a joke, either to a big crowd or just a small group of people, I make fun of people only under one of two conditions: first, the person I make fun of is me, because I know I won’t hurt my own feelings; or second, I make sure the person I am making fun of is a friend of mine whom I know I will not offend with the joke. (Except my wife. She never knows when I make jokes about her, but “I do” came with an unwritten clause that jokes will be made on her behalf, and there’s nothing she can do about it. :) So I won’t make fun of a person right off the bat, and often times not even the first couple of times I meet them. I get to know people, what kind of sense of humor they have and how much they can take before I start cracking on them. (This formula has not always worked, and even though I thought I was in the clear, I have inadvertently hurt feelings before and it made me feel terrible when I realized it! That has never been my intention.)
The reason I choose to do this is because when my baby teeth fell out and my adult teeth grew in, Goofy was jealous! My two front teeth were MONSTERS! Look at those things, holy smokes! NASA could relay signals off those things. They’re still pretty big, but my face is finally fatter now than it was in 3rd grade. I got called Buck Tooth Beaver for 3rd and most of 4th grade. And it hurt. I think the last time I was called that, by someone other than my sisters, was 5th grade. 7th and 8th grade I got picked on more for getting better grades than my bullies (notice I said BETTER grades than them, and not GOOD grades. Because only in my head are “C”s good grades) and for my fashion sense. But that’s what happens when you chose to style yourself after Corey Matthews from Boy Meets World. Now, if I had tried to dress more like Shawn Hunter instead, maybe they wouldn’t have talked so much trash. He was cool. I was just curly hair away from calling myself Corey! But because I know how it feels when someone makes fun of you when you don’t want it, I try my hardest to make certain that the jokes I tell and the teasing I take part in is in pure fun. No malice or hurt feelings intended at all.
Unfortunately my method of teasing and joke telling isn’t the most common way it is done. A lot of people tease and pick on people for numerous reasons. From elementary school throughout adulthood, it happens. Even as an adult I have avoided walking through certain hallways or talking to certain people because I know there are people who don’t know when they’ve crossed the line, or perhaps they know and don’t care. Now I have pretty thick skin, and it takes a bit to truly offend me, but it still happens.
To kids being bullied may I offer a simple bit of advice? Confront your bully. I had one kid in 7th and 8th grade who picked on me constantly. I finally told him that I'd had enough and that he needed to knock it off. Much to my surprise, he apologized! He told me that he thought that it had all been in fun and that he didn’t know it was hurtful to me. We lived in the same neighborhood for about another year and he never did it again. We would wave in the hallways and he more or less ignored me after that. Kids have a funny way of thinking, and as a kid yourself you may not understand that yet, but trust me you do. I can’t guarantee it will work, but the first step I would suggest is to tell your bully to knock it off. (Then if that doesn’t work, punch him in the junk and run as fast as you can!)
On a serious note, if you are being bullied, picked on or teased more than you want, there are multiple ways to stop it without violence. There are many avenues to get help, please look into them and talk with someone before it comes to hurting yourself or someone else.
Think about your friends and your relationships with them. A lot of bullies don’t realize what they’re doing can hurt someone else, so think about what you do and make sure you yourself are not a bully. I’ve been made fun of for wearing glasses, having big teeth, and for twitching (at a Mariners game a couple years ago some punk teenager asked me if I was retarded after a twitching fit) and I have seen people made fun of for a whole array of other reasons. It can hurt. It can deeply affect people. Look out for your friends and stand up for them when they need it. Watch what you say and do, and accept people for their differences.
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