2008 - Secondary - Honorable Mention - Vaccaro

I don't even know how many times the name "Fatso" has hurt me and made me feel extremely melancholy inside. I do not show my emotions to the bully because he would call me a wimp or a cry baby. However, the bully still somehow knows he has hurt me inside. I have been called this name many times. The name I am usually addressed as is "Fatso" or "Fatty" or "Fat." I tell the bullies, "My name is not "Fatso," it’s Augusto!" They do not listen and keep on bullying me with that word.

I despise that word more than the bully who is speaking it. This is because the bully might have addressed the word, but the word is the real thing that hurts, not the bully. Sometimes, I even hate myself more than the bully or the name that the bully has called me. This is because I am the one who has put the weight in my stomach. I am the one who puts all this name-calling and stress on my shoulders. The worst of them all is, I am the one being addressed as, "The Child Called Fatso."

I am called this name because of my physical appearance. This is because, at the moment, I am eating a lot and I do not play too many sports. Sometimes, the bully will even address that I am fat because I am a couch potato and do not participate in many outside activities. When the bully says this, I feel as if I am a tree, and the bully is chopping me down until I am lifeless. This is because the bully pulls me down until I snap and I actually believe what he is saying. I even start to agree with the bully after a long time of him calling me “Fatso.” It is as if the bully is taking over you, overpowering you. It is as if you are a puppet and the bully is your master, making you do whatever the bully wants you to. The bully overpowers me with only one word and that word is, “Fatso.”

This bully is the worst person I have come to know. Every day he mocks me about my physical appearance. Every day at least one person mocks me. I feel as if I were a puppet, the one that is always controlled by the bully. Bullies tend to use the victim's weaknesses against them. They also use words like "Fatso" or "Nerdy" to make the victim recognize his/her weakness or feel bad that he has been called that weakness. I have been called "Fat" I don’t know how many times, but I am trying to make bullies stop bullying me or anyone else.

The bully bullies people because he is under pressure, stress, or is feeling depressed or angry at something or someone. Bullies try to take whatever they are feeling out on their victims. They think that they are funny by bullying another person, but they know that what they are saying and doing is wrong. They think they would be cool, popular, and gain a lot of friends by just being mean. The victim will feel really inadequate and will stop caring about their life after being bullied.

I know that verbal bullying is bad. I feel that it just makes the victim's world stop spinning. The world stops, never to start again. The victim just stands there, feeling lifeless after he has been bullied. Life after being a bully's victim isn’t the same. It is like life without anybody to talk to, be with, or even be friends with. Life is lifeless after being bullied.

A way to stop bullying might be to talk to a guidance counselor, or even talk to the bully. If that doesn't work, then you can ask the principal or the guidance counselor to talk to the bully to make them stop bullying you. After they talk to the bully, he WILL stop. That is why I am no longer called, "The Child Called Fatso."