Breaking Point

Breaking Point

When the children gathered around and

Verbally abused me,

Where were the people

Who were supposed to protect me?

I was told to grow a thicker skin

But they ignored the wounds

The children left on my psyche

I grew to hate going out

I grew to hate the kids at school

I grew to hate myself because

There was nothing I could do

To make it all stop.

“Ignore them,” they said.

“They’ll grow out of it,” they said.

“Kids will be kids,” they said.

“You’re just too sensitive,” they said.

Excuses and platitudes to cover

The unkind attitudes

Of those who had either done it

Or gone through it before me and

Had already paid their dues

With the emotional bruises

When the children gathered around and

Started to throw their barbs

I snapped through the tears

I wanted to make them

Hurt as much as they had

Made me hurt inside

“We never saw this coming,” they said

“How could this have happened?” They asked

“She was always a disturbed child…”

Excuses and accusations

Blame laid on the victim who

Fought back against those

Who had caused so much pain…

All the warnings were given

All the signs were there

Is it really any surprise to anyone

After all is said and done

That I reached my breaking point?

4/27/11

Form: free

I never did quite snap like that, but I came close a few times. I had this teacher in middle school who thought I was going to pull a Columbine, well, after Columbine...