Annie (AKA Hey Terra!) has been around long enough to have experienced a lot of what Life can dish out. But, it hasn’t been so long that she's forgotten what it's like to be your age. Check out some of the thousands of email questions teens from around the world have sent to Terra. You may learn something useful from her answers:
Bullying:
“I don't know why they hate me.”
Hey Terra,
There's this girl and she hates me. She tries to make me miserable and it works! She calls me fat and ugly and everything and I don't know how to deal with it. She has everyone hating me. Nobody will have anything to do with me. They came to my house and waited until I got home and my mom threatened them. Now they are being so mean I don't know how to do anything anymore I'm so upset and confused. I don't no why they hate me. All I do is cry and I don't know how to make it stop. I'm so hurt and so confused I don't no how to explain it. It's the worst feeling. Loneliness all the time. No one cares. I'm so unwanted. My mom makes it worse. I know she's trying to help but I don't want her to. It just makes it worse.Hurting
Dear Hurting,
I'm very sorry that you are having such a hard time right now. The girl who is being mean to you is wrong. She is an unhappy person herself and that's part of the reason that she is trying to hurt you... She doesn't have people who care about her so it's hard for her to be nice to you or anyone else. I'm not saying this so that you should feel sorry for her, I just want you to know that SHE is the one with the major problem.
Now, what you can do about this is to let your mom help you. You need your mom's love and support right now. Do not turn away from her. Work with her. Find out what this girl's name is (all of them who are treating you this way). Then have your mom get in touch with the school counselor. Hopefully the counselor will set up a meeting with you and the girls. In a safe environment, chances are good that the counselor can get to the bottom of this conflict and help you resolve it. The goal isn't for everyone to become "friends"... That may not be realistic. But these girls need to know that it's never okay to harass someone and to be cruel.
Harassment is against the law and that's exactly what they're doing. You deserve to live in peace. They are disturbing your peace.
Show this email to your mom if you want to.
Let her help you get the peace you deserve.
In friendship,
Terra
Need some advice? Write to Terra.
She'll give you a straight answer you can trust without any lectures.
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