Study Finds that Bullying Causes Overweight Kids to Exercise Less

Well, geeeeesh...
Why didn't they just ask me.

I've been overweight since I was 8 years old - you can see the changes in my school pictures. I remember being surrounded by taunting classmates: "Fatty, fatty, two by four..." was the un-popular song for us fat kids in the 1950's. I heard it too many times - directed at me.
So do ya think I wanted to run around and play at recess? Uh, like Nooooooo.
What about gym when I got to Junior High (what is now known as Middle School)? A bigger Nooooooooo.
Did I play a lot outside in the summers? Another Nooooooooo.

I recently went to a rheumatologist for my back pain. After reviewing my MRI results she asked me if I had been an athlete when I was younger, since my back looked like the problems of an athlete. "No. I was the fat kid sitting in the corner with her nose stuck in a book," I laughed.

I wish I had ignored the taunts and ran around more, played more, joined a sports team. I may not be overweight today.
But I think I did use those physically-idle hours wisely.

Still, it doesn't excuse the taunts I heard fifty years ago - or take away the pain that I still feel when I think about those times.

Years ago there was a movie starring Stockard Channing - about a women who had been taunted over her weight all through school. When she finally lost the weight and returned to her high school reunion, she returned with a Carrie-like vengence.

We didn't get the lesson with Columbine.
We still don't get the lesson.
Most of us who are bullied don't aim the guns at others - we just continue to take it out on the closet person - ourselves.