Bullying: A Short Story

To my high school self and anyone else struggling with the same things I was and still am, Until the summer going into my senior year, I had always been a very independent person. I was very confident in everything I did, never to rely on anyone else but myself for happiness or anything of the sort. However, I made one mistake that summer and it never went away. The people in my new group of friends I had started bullying me about it. It started with a few choice words for me every time they saw me, then it moved to texts they would send me, to pictures they would photo shop me into, and then it moved to twitter. I remember one night in particular to this day that stood out the most. I remember it so well because every single person I knew
Being out on your own, or with less guidance, forces you to become independent since you do not have people telling you what to do, how to do things, or giving you everything you need. Milkman did just this. He had always wanted to leave the nest per se, but never could. He finally did and his life changed for the better. Upon meeting Susan and Grace, he was offered cookies for the rest of his journey and he turned them down at first. Grace then said, “‘You’ll be happy to have them later.’ The woman was wearing him down. He smiled, though, and said, ‘if you like’” (Morrison 292). The whole first three-quarters of the novel, Milkman was a very closed off, grumpy person who just needed to leave his home and those people behind. He knew he needed to leave because he did not necessarily like the person that he was being. He finally got the courage to go out into the real world and out of his comfort zone. Throughout his journey, he found himself somewhere along the way. When I read that Milkman was being worn down by Grace and smiled, is the exact moment I realized Milkman had changed. It is pretty cool to me actually, that realization feeling I had. The first time he genuinely smiles in a long time and it is because he finally went out and found himself. He was not so much the angry person, but a much lighter more friendly person. A person who smiles about cookies. I cannot guarantee that he would have smiled at the beginning of the novel if the old Milkman was put into that situation. He got rid of the negativity and the things he did not want to be around and he left to find the things he wanted to be around. In fact, most people were just putting him down and saying he could not do it and he should not do it but he came out on top a better person. More importantly, a person with feelings and emotion for those he cares about. No one was there along the way to help him