Amanda Todd Remembered: I was bullied in High School too.

I know that a great deal of ink has been written on Amanda Todd, and in my view all justified.  She was pressured and tormented in the worst kind of ways for a teenager. Let’s face it High School is tough enough without adult perverts trying to sneak a peek at some innocent child.

But as I said I am not trying to add to that mountain.
Instead I want to add my name to that list.

I know that most of my readers see me as a well put together middle-aged man who writes about Winnipeg.   Concerts, dining out, and just general everyday stuff.   But in this context I can relate to Amanda because I was bullied every day in high school too.

Thinking back it was actually in grade school because I had a cousin who, shared my last name who WAS the bully in the day.

Bare with me I am putting pieces together.

We all start small, there is always someone bigger than us, and that was me.  From the big and little hills in the back of Robert Moore School in Fort Frances. Where big kids would dominate  the little kids according to hill size.

To the stinking old Fort Frances High, where you could take shots in the stairwell for not being part of a clique. I was never part of a group.  My little group huddled in an alcove most mornings and between classes.  Outsiders one and all.

We all got beaten down in different ways, I took beatings in the stairs and lockers.  Girls got berated in the bathrooms. To a person we were made to feel smaller and worth less.  I remember Darren, Barb, Carrol, Todd, Calvin.

Then came the day that I got bigger than them.  I was drinking from a fountain one afternoon. One of those shits pushed my head in, and I found my strength.
I took that motherfucker by the scruff and bashed his scrawny head into a locker.  Not once, not twice but multiple times.  All the while he was crying for his big bully brother to come to his aid.

Sorry fucker you messed with the wrong dork.

I know the shame that Amanda felt, how low you can feel when someone drags you under their boot.  I wish Amanda would have had that anger that I felt. The ability to regain her power, but at that tender age you really don’t have much power to start with.

I know  your pain Amanda, I hope that you finally rest in peace.

God Willing

Bob

Related articles

• This One is for Amanda Todd & The Rest of Us (goneawayboys.wordpress.com)
• Like Amanda Todd, I Was Blackmailed With Naked Pictures When I Was 16 [Amanda Todd] (jezebel.com)
• The Amazing Atheist spits on the memory of Amanda Todd [TW: bullying, sexual shaming, suicide] (manboobz.com)
• Amanda Todd’s death inspires Sun readers share experiences with bullying (vancouversun.com)
• Pete McMartin: Amanda Todd, the Internet and us (vancouversun.com)

Cabin Fever

Hi everyone, and a big Minnie Pearl “Howdy” to all of my new subscribers.

I must admit that I haven’t been very talkative this last week.  The winter blahs have finally caught up to me it seems.   Since last weekend the temperature has hovered at or below -20 Celsius.  Translation to all of you from warmer climates “BURRRRR”.   In trying to make our lives worth living Mother Nature also threw in an assload of snow this weekend when it did actually warm up a enough to want to poke a un-mittened finger outside for a minute or two.

However I do have one very nice thing to report, two of my best friends from my formative high school years dropped into Winnipeg this week.

It was literally the first time we had all been together in over 10 years.  It struck me as incredible that I could walk up to the two of them and pretty much pick up the last conversation we had all been having all those years ago without missing a beat.   I really don’t know what importance Rick Springfield has in today’s world but it was nice just the same.

Other than talking about our significant others and kids.  We pretty much just bullshitted the way we always do when we are together.  With the exception that we weren’t piss drunk this time seeing that I have pretty much given up on the sauce, and another one of my buddy’s has developed diabetes in the years since high school.

It’s nice to know that we can always rely on those touchstones in our lives.  Some friends are more than just buddies they literally are family.  Sometimes closer than our real blood.  I know that our lives have taken us in strange and wondrous directions since we left Fort Frances but it’s comforting to know that we are still as close as we ever were.

Hmmm, funny the winter just doesn’t seem that cold any more.  Good travels my friends.  Till we meet again.

Todd and Darren

Bob and Darren

Bob and Todd