Revisits from Bullies & Bystanders
I was a bullied a lot throughout my whole entire life. The first time I ever was bullied was in Preschool. I was 4 years old. I remember feeling helpless for the first time. I remember being scared and not knowing how to stand up for myself. I remember crying and saying stop to the bully - though he never did stopped. I remember telling someone about it (for the first time) and them not doing anything to stop it.
I remember almost every single even when I was bullied. I remember the specific things they said to me and did to me. I remember how they said it and the faces they made during the whole thing. I remember people laughing and supporting them for scarring me. I remember people who saw it and just walked by and pretended they didn’t see anything. I remember teachers and adults participating or ignoring or doing nothing. I remember it all. And I wish I didn’t.
You know, this whole 13 Reasons Why (the TV Series) thing has exploded the world. I mean, for me, when the book came out, everything exploded. I read it the year it was first published and it was the first book I read that I spent my money on. It was special by then and it became even more incredibly special after I read it. I think I wrote a whole review about it here. I think it’s called “Thirteen Reasons Why I Love Thirteen Reasons Why”.
Yes. This post is about the Netflix TV Series; 13 Reasons Why. And before I get into detail about the relation of this to the whole point of this post, let me give you a background of what I think about the show....
I’ve never watched it. I probably will but I never actually wanted to. You see, the book is 99.9% perfect in my eyes. It’s one of my top ten favorite books of all time. And if they changed anything - like the dialogues or tone or feel and especially the message of the book - then I’ll most definitely hate it. And I will hate it even more because that’s what most people will get out of this book. Its the whole book to movie adaptation thing. Like Harry Potter for example, no one will know that Dobby was the one who gave Harry the gillyweed during the Triwizard tournament and not Neville except the people who read the books. Or no one knows that Hagrid’s trike was from Sirius Black unless you’ve read the books.
I don’t want people who watched this tv series misinterpret or misunderstand the message of the book. I mean, I’m glad its raising awareness about the issues in this book and the while general theme of it. So far from the reviews of most people, especially media and some celebrities, they saw Hannah (the main character) as the villain or as a girl who only sought revenge. She wasn’t those things for me. And I hated that people thought of that about her.
Back to the main idea of this post...
Since the tv series 13 Reasons Why became so popular and it became one the shows to watch, along with Riverdale and This Is Us (both I also haven’t watched yet), naturally everyone has been talking/buzzing about it.
There was this one day when one of my facebook friends (emphasis on facebook friend) sent me a message saying:
“Hi Marga. I just watched 13 Reasons Why and the girl Hannah reminded me of you. I’m sorry for not doing anything to help you back in high school when I saw you crying that one time. Hope you’re doing okay now.”
I didn’t actually send that, I replied to him saying “ok.” But what... was... that?!
At first, I didn’t know what to say or how to feel or what that was but... Okay.... that was hella weird. Then I actually started thinking about it. Who was this guy again? I know we were classmates in high school but who are you again. We don’t talk. We’re not friends. Who is this guy?
Then I remembered. He was one of those people who looked away or ignored me when someone threw a water bottle at me and people laughed. I was just walking back to my classroom after having lunch (in the bathroom) and a water bottle (filled with water with no cap) slapped me in the face and my uniform got wet. People laughed hysterically. I just stood there, forcing myself not to cry and just walked away already crying.
(to be continued. brb crying)
