I wasn't bullied at school, but I was given a hard time by two girls in my class. I was small, skinny, pre-pubescent and prone to daydreaming fits and sudden startling outbursts about a great book I'd just read. Think Anne of Green Gables but less winsome.
They were already teenagers in their heads (we started at 12) into fashion, music and hanging out with boys. They acted as if I were some sort of scientific experiment - not cruelly exactly, just, "Look at that funny thing! What IS it going to come out with next?" They would set me up with bizarre questions to try & make everyone laugh.
Anyway as we went through school I made friends, was on the Athletics Team, had lead parts in school musicals etc etc and was eventually tolerated even by those that didn't like me.
One of the girls came to work at my pub. I'd been there 2 years and all the locals and other barmaids liked me. Suddenly she turns up, knows no-one, never worked in a bar before.... Ha.
I treated her as I would any new member of staff, took her under my wing and looked after her. She wasn't the same street-tough 12-14 year old I'd been scared of. She was a funny, slightly shy 20 year old who was delighted to see a familiar face. And lets face it, I had been an odd child. Helped me lay some ghosts to rest though.
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I see families that make me say to myself, "Damn, what a bunch of inbred hicks", but you know what?....they are usually laughing and having a good time.
That gives me pause. Are people that never heard "Islamo-fascist" or "Gross national Product", to be pitied or envied?
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I envy them Bruce. I wish I could be half as sure about anything as they seem to be. Even young single Mums on welfare - they never seem to have considered an alternative, they are part of big messy dysfunctional ultimately loving familes, they get by and they don't worry about what's going to happen 20 years from now.
I've never quite worked out whether I am under- or over- educated. I drift along in admin-land working with people who think I'm a cross between Kofi Annan & Andrew Motion, then come on here & feel like Paris Hilton
