As We Looked Back, we were All Victims of School Bully
Taiwan was a small country; a foreigner could easily be a moving zoo on the street. We don’t have different skin color classmates, but being the same race, we still discriminate against each other. In school, it was about appearance, academic performance, social skills, and more. In society, it was about power, money, figures, and more.
When 45 high school girls were confined in the same classroom at an exam-oriented school to compete for a 1–5% chance to get into the best universities, a hidden frustration and rebellion were circling in the air. Predators could always spot on weak prey to release pressure.
Once a group of girls surrounded me against the wall and started expressing my appearance. “Look, there seems to be a gray smoke around her, gross!” “Hey, her eyes are one big and one small.” I maintained a numb smile like it was my defense. In the end, they required me to say it myself and I did it. “Yes, I am ugly.”
As the time approached graduation, I was called outside the classroom and stunned by a person standing in front of me. A boy in this all-girls high school whom I never met looked uncomfortable, sorry, and playful. A realization dawned on me and I turned to go back to the classroom, but both doors were blocked by my classmates, shouting, “He’s going to invite you to the prom, answer him!”
I laughed like it was hilarious, and then I cried right in front of everyone at the age of 17.
