INSPIRATIONAL STORY: "Use The Fire Within You"

Each person handles traumatic events differently. We each handle bullying differently. Some stand up to bullies and tell them what they think. Others become class clowns to avoid being picked on. If he or she can make everyone laugh, then no one would tease them. There are some who allow the taunting to crush them and ruin their lives, but it doesn’t have to. You can use the put downs from others to stir up the fire within your soul, a fire to push you to prove everyone wrong.

The fire is determination, courage, and strength you have deep within you. You may not even know you have it, but it’s there. You just have to dig deep for it. You have to make a decision. Do you want the bullies to win or do want to show them how wrong they are about you? Don’t you want to say, “Hey, look at me now. You were wrong about me and I showed you. I am a winner.” And that’s just what I did and am still doing.

Throughout elementary school my teachers pushed me from grade to grade because they didn’t think I could do anything on my own. They assigned students to give me answers on tests.

One teacher even told my mom. “I’m sorry you have a daughter who will never amount to anything.”

A classmate told me over and over again. “You’ll grow up and end up on welfare. You can’t do anything on your own. You’re too stupid.”

I worked hard to learn to read, but when I tried to do my own work and got an A my teacher accused me of cheating. In elementary school, I gave up trying. No matter how hard I worked, no one could see me as anything, but a dummy. When I got to six grade my teacher said I could take my tests on my own. She didn’t put me down. Then once I got into high school I was completely by myself. My options were, I either find a way around my disability and pass or be a failure. I couldn’t fail. If I gave up I would be proving everyone right. I had to pass. I had to prove them wrong.

I couldn’t keep up with notes in class so I wrote my own notes from the book. I had a hard time remembering information for tests so I wrote them out on index cards. I studied those cards for hours on end. I’d read them several times and then try to recite the notes without looking at the cards. A fire burned in me and pushed me to strive to succeed. First I started getting C’s, then B’s and then A’s. I made the merit roll and then the honor roll. Next I became the first learning disabled student in my school to make the National Honors society.

Those kids who teased me were suddenly asking if they could cheat off me. I tutored a student in reading for a teacher who said I couldn’t read. I used the teasing to find my determination, strength and courage. I could have let them completely ruin me, but I became obsessed with showing them I could do it. I worked hard and I proved to them they were wrong. I used the bullying to drive me to push forward. A fire of determination burned within me and kept me going even though at times I wondered if I could. I became discouraged, but my inner fire gave me the strength to keep fighting.

I graduated from high school with five scholarships and my principal gave a hidden hero speech about me. I took my diploma with tears in my eyes and a smile on my lips. Silently I was screaming, “I did it. I proved you all wrong. I am the winner.”

Day after day I am still demonstrating to them they were wrong and my fire of determination, strength and courage still burns deep within me. The girl who said I would never be anyone started going to same college as I was going to. She dropped out and even though it took me a while, I graduated. The last time I heard she is living on welfare, has several children, and her husband left her. I’m only a cashier, but I have kept my job for many years. I am a writer. I write for this site, I write my own blog, I wrote a memoir I am editing and preparing for publication and I am happily married. I have reached recovery from mental illness. Why? Because the fire of determination still burns deep.

Don’t let bullying destroy you. Use it to push forward and prove yourself. Don’t let them win. You can be the winner. You can show them who you really are and what you are capable of. The fire is within you, use it to shine and rise above those who are harassing you. Show them what kind of person you are. You are a winner and you can show them that.