The Stories of my Life: The Day I Got Kneed Below the Belt

bul·ly/ˈbo͝olē/

1. A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.
2. Corned beef.

My roommates in college thought it was absolutely disgusting that I would eat “meat form a can.”  Yes…I was that guy who would each corned beef straight out of the can.  I also had my own rice cooker too and I’d mix the corned beef in it and…ok…you don’t want to hear that.

This isn’t about corned beef.  This is about my life as an elementary school kid.

Here’s a reality – being different makes you special, but being different sometimes makes you a target.  And  I was different.  (For those of you who always get tired of hearing minorities talk about how life for a minority is different, you should probably stop reading now.) I don’t really want to go into too much about how I was bullied, but it is not a secret that it is the worst feeling in the world.

I am not sure why I was targeted.  I have some assumptions – but none I could really prove.

It could have done with my faith.  Even as an elementary school child I was proud to be a follower of Christ, bringing my bible to school and praying before I ate my lunch.  

It could have been the fact that I was a really small kid. ok…maybe small isn’t the word.  I think the word my mom used to describe me was “husky.” 

Here’s what I do remember.  It was 5th grade.  I don’t even really remember exactly “how” it happened, but all I remember was getting kneed in the crotch and falling to the ground with everyone laughing at me.  It was horrifying.  The “toughest” kid in the class was the one who did it.  (It’s funny writing that, knowing how small a 5th grader is from an adult perspective)

What caught me off guard the most is what happened next.  In a flurry of events, I found myself in the principles office sitting next to (let’s call him “Joe”) and having the principal drilling me on what I did to provoke “Joe”.  I said, “Nothing”

And when the principal drilled “Joe” on why he did what he did, he said, “I just felt like it.”  And then the most surprising thing happened.  Right in front of me, the principal began to lecture “Joe” about his choices, and his “already run in’s with the law.”  The principal began to tell him that he was going to expel him and that he was never going to amount to anything unless he changed his behavior.

“Joe” just sat there. Me?  I was crying like a baby.   I was scared.  I wasn’t sure if “Joe” was going to beat me up after school.  I wasn’t sure if my parents were going to get mad at me being in the office AGAIN! (I’m not going to go there…it’s for another post)

What’s the point?  I’m not sure.  I just know that it’s one of the few memories I have of my childhood that I vividly remember. And here’s what I took away from that event.

1. Being bullied is horrifying

1. Being bullied is horrifying
2. While I was angry and confused by “Joe’s” actions, there was a point in the principles office I began to feel compassion towards him. 

After that event, I was never bullied by “Joe.”  I was bullied by another couple of guys in P.E. every day, but that’s for another day.  It’s a really fun story though…one I know I will be telling my son! (Hint…I got to kick a bully where the sun don’t shine)

Back to what I was going to say…

The point is that as I look back at my childhood (the little I do remember) I am surprised that I didn’t take the route that many seem to have taken with their life’s experiences.  If you’re not following me, let me make it plain.

I have never let the moments of my life define me.  Instead, I have let them shape me into the person I know God wants me to be.

John 16:33 (NIV)“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”