I was a small skinny kid growing up.  I had a lot of heart and a lot of kindness in it.  I was not mean or heartless like a lot of other kids, so I did not fit in well.  I was picked on and called ugly names every day at school in the private Christian elementary school I went to.  I had very low self-esteem because of this.  My world evolved around that school and it was ugly.  I could not see past it.  Now, as an adult, I know that school was only a small part of my entire life.  Those kids who bullied me were nothing but cowards themselves.  They were cowards because they followed the biggest bully in class, too scared to go against the flow, too scared to stand up for anyone else.  On the outside they pretended to be tough and tried so hard to fit in, but inside they were nothing but cowards who never broke through their empty shells. 

But not everyone was a coward.  One boy a grade ahead of me had the guts to stand up to them all.  He stood up to and talked to the biggest bully in my class one day, when I was in junior high.  I don't know what he said to the bully, but that bully and the rest of the sheep in the class never harassed me again.  That older boy became a hero to me.  He was the big brother I never had.  He was later killed in college, but he will always be my big brother, my hero. 

I went on to work with the Navy Seals and Delta Force, operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I became a federal agent.  I became a mentor for my family and others.  I have a very successful life now and I fear no bully.  To you kids who are being bullied, it is not right.  Any person who picks on someone smaller than them or different from them is nothing more than a coward inside, no matter what they pretend to be outside. 

There is a lot more to life than your present situation.  Be strong and know that you are not what those cowards want you to be.  You have an amazing life waiting for you in the real world, following your higher education.  Be strong inside, be good, and be patient.  You can be anything you want in this life.  Instead of letting them hold you down, let their weakness and cowardice motivate you.  Let it motivate you to be someone much greater than they could ever be.  Patience and persistence will get you anywhere you want to go in this life.  Never give up on your dreams, even if you cannot see the light.  You have the strength inside to be anyone you want to be.  Visualize it inside and take baby steps every day of your life to get there.  I told another guy going through Seal training who came to me for help, "You feel overwhelmed because you are looking at the big picture and taking everything in at once.  Let go of that.  Take one day at a time.  At the end of that day, look at the good you accomplished and your success.  Do that every day and before you know it, you will have made it."  That sailor was going to quit BUD/S training due to feeling overwhelmed.  My motivation towards him got him through the dark time, into the Seal Teams, and he later was very thankful to me.  This goes for anything in life.  Life is a roller coaster, not a merry-go-round.  There will always be good times and dark times, highs and lows.  You know what you are inside.  Tough it out no matter how bad it gets.  Find the peace inside to get through the dark times.  Find good people in life to surround yourself with (people who make you feel good about yourself and good about them).  Remember who you are inside and don't ever feel that anyone can take that away from you, because they can't.  Become the great person you want to be, one day at a time.  You will get there.  You will become anything you want to be.  And those who tried to hold you back and pull you down will fail in the end.  You will not.