I never really noticed bullying in my area while i was growing up, i am 25 now just for a time frame. It seemed to me that most everyone got along enough to just leave each other alone. My school was very "clicky" so I honestly never saw bullying.

It was not until I grew up that i realized how stupid that statement seems. I honestly think that if I could go back in time and be able to watch my classmates from the outside I would see bullying. I was widely accepted in most clicks just because I was really into sports but also in band, and also a bit Gothic so i had friends everywhere.

I feel like this sounds horrible, by the way, and know i feel bad that i never took the time to notice the bullying that was probably  happening right under my nose.

Recently bullying was brought into the forefront of my life. My younger cousin and his family all moved to the Sacramento area, after living in Oregon for his whole life. He had always gone to a private Catholic school, but the location of their new home meant the nearest one was about 1 hour away, so as a family they decided he would enter the public middle school just down the street. He would call me crying about how bad his day was, and that the teachers AND the Principal would do nothing about the names, taunts and "innocent rough housing" (the principals actual words) the other boys were doing to my cousin.

It got so bad that my cousin was often "sick" and stopped going to school, and the principal had the audacity of calling the police to do a welfare check on him assuming my aunt and uncle were dead beats. After hearing my cousins and my aunt and uncles story though, they were informed that this policeman's daughter was pulled out of that school and moved to that private catholic school an hour away because of the lack of control the system had on the bullying.

Ir all turned out well in the end. The policeman went to the private school and see if they had an openings my cousin could take, they didn't, but given the circumstances they allowed him in anyway not wanting to have their inactivity cause harm. He is doing much better and is the happy little guy I have known since infancy.