When I was in 5th and 6th grade I was bullied. I was poor and didn't have money for the clothes and shoes that my peers did. I would be called a "hillbilly" or a "hick" if I showed up for school in ripped jeans or old stained shirts. I was criticized by how skinny I was, kids said I looked anorexic yet teachers never heard these things.

What I learned later in life was that people make fun of you because it is what they don't like about themselves. They treat you as they've been treated and its a reflective of them, not you. When I was older I started buying my own clothes and I gained some weight when I hit puberty.

I realized that being made fun of was incentive for me to never bully anyone else. I was molded into a better person.  Somehow I found that I liked myself enough to be the better person even though it would have been nice to lash out.

It hurt but I'm grateful it ended when I moved schools.