On my birth certificate it reads, Miranda Maddison Myers. Nowhere on there does it say idiot or ugly because that is not my name. If you’re like me, you’re already shattered and ready to break apart. So when a person calls you a name, it just makes you want to stay in your room and never come out. People don’t understand how powerful a four-letter word is, until they see what they did to that person. A person will go a long way just to prove you wrong and I’m living proof of that.
Growing up, I was constantly bullied every day from the same kid. I was never really bothered by it, until my own friends abandoned me. You know why they left? Because I wasn’t cool, I was just the ugly kid who got made fun of. At least that is what I grew up knowing, that I wasn’t going to be a popular kid. I was a nerd in everyone's perspective, and not once did someone ask me if I really was. I finally came to the understanding that he was never going to leave me alone. I grew used to him being there and making fun of my name. He used to chant MIR-AND-A, that sounds really funny! Oh, look at the veins over her eyes! I hated that but everyone else was okay with it. Everyone saw what he did, but not one person spoke up.
I finally gave up after he called me fat and ugly. I decided to change after that, I stopped eating and I wore makeup. I decided that if being skinny and pretty was the way to stop everything then I would become that. I was tired of being made fun of, I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. I eat 500 calories a day and burned all of it when I came home from school. I ran a mile every day and played basketball until I couldn’t stand anymore. My mom was okay with that because I told her that I was preparing for the cross-country and basketball team for middle school. She never questioned that either because I was in fifth grade so it made sense to her. When I was 11, I became diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and Depression all because of two words.
When I went to the middle school, I never did join those teams. Instead, I joined a lot of weight loss blogs and followed people who gave tips about it. In the process of doing that I actually made some friends. They struggled with the same things I had but we tried helping each other out of it. I got better, I finally weighed an average weight for kids my age. But they didn’t, no matter how hard I tried to help nothing changed. They eventually gave up and committed suicide. I lost 3 friends and you know why? Because they were getting bullied, and they couldn’t take it anymore! After that, I went back to my old ways and became severely depressed.
Even if you don’t realize it, names can change a person for the worse. Like I said before, I’m living proof of that. I never joined those teams because they were a constant reminder of everything horrible that happened to me. Other people might not get impacted the same way I did but they still are. Who knows, they might self-harm to forget their pain or even smoke. But they still changed and that is all that matters.
All I am asking you to do is think, just think before you say something. One name can cause a person that is already broken to just completely shatter. If you already called somebody a name that was rude or mean apologize. Because who knows, they might not be there tomorrow. All because that stupid name was ringing through their head. If it isn’t on their birth certificate, don’t call them what you were going to. Through all of my experience I learned one thing. I learned that if someone calls me a name, to respond with My name is Miranda Maddison Myers and nothing else.
~R.I.P. my friends, I really miss you
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140,138 Literary Works • 673,032 Reviews
Hi, here I am as promised!
I think this should be 'by' rather than from.Specifics
1. You use 'just' a couple of times and it's not a great word for a non fiction piece because it's very colloquial sounding. It also slows down the pace of a sentence and is a word I'd generally say should only be used in dialogue or when you're aiming to create a colloquial tone.
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Overall
This is a compelling piece and it's well written!
It might be nice to describe a little more about how bullying escalates since that's the main topic. Maybe expand the part where you describe your first friends leaving because you weren't popular enough to emphasise how treating someone differently can isolate them from everyone else and that's when people become the most vulnerable.
Also, when did the bullying stop? It might be good to mention that to show that the bad feelings don't go away when a person is removed from that situation because by then it's already too late/ the things they said are too ingrained in a person's mind.
Keep writing!
~Heather
"When I was 11, I became diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and Depression all because of two words. "
The more natural way to phrase this would be "got diagnosed", even if you're trying to sound more formal, or "received a diagnosis" if you want the phrasing itself to be really formal rather than just neutral.
"All I am asking you to do is think, just think before you say something. One name can cause a person that is already broken to just completely shatter. If you already called somebody a name that was rude or mean apologize. Because who knows, they might not be there tomorrow. All because that stupid name was ringing through their head. If it isn’t on their birth certificate, don’t call them what you were going to. Through all of my experience I learned one thing. I learned that if someone calls me a name, to respond with My name is Miranda Maddison Myers and nothing else. "
This feels a bit too choppy even with a preference towards shorter sentences. It's not so much staccato as clumpy to me. I really like the last two sentences, but I think they could be better written if you write them like this:
Through all of my experience I learned one thing: if someone calls me a name, to respond with My name is Miranda Maddison Myers and nothing else.
Hi! Writing here for a reviewment.
So, it was a sad truth. A world that is unfair and confusing sometime. Your essay is a reminder to all the lasting effects of bullying and what it can do to the one who was bullied. Great job. You chose to attack 'their' conscience, the inner soul if they have. From what I had learned, the bullies were also bullied in their homes or in the past. They wanted to make feel what they felt when they experienced some of that kind.
Now, depression is not an easy thing. Though I haven't experienced it myself, yet(hopefully not but let us just put it to God). I had a friend who lashes his wrist and I can only encourage him not to overdo it(I am an evil friend, right? But still It will minimize his wounds). Wounds will only remind you of how painful it was. "You are already in pain and yet you are making it worse. Doubling up the pain." <is what I said to my friend.
To your friends(of the author), may they rest in piece.
To all, be careful of your words.
Words are sharper than blades. It penetrates deeper than a spear or a bullet. Though it can be healed, it still leave a visible scar in the mind, the heart, and the soul.
Well, let 'them' be. They will only drag you down. Keep up the faith and just pray.
Hi, it saddened me to read you, Miranda.
It was very brave of you to put yourself out there like that. I'm sure you will find out that very few people escaped school unscathed. I was bullied all through middleschool and highschool myself. There was one particularly nasty incident when a couple of girls took pictures of me in the shower and circulated them through school.
I contemplated suicide more than once. I never did it, though, because things were pretty bad at home too and I figured it was the last thing my little sisters needed. I can't imagine how things could be so sad that I would forget about the people I loved. So I kept going, too ashamed to do anything.
Because, unlike you, Miranda, I never even considered changing to fit in better. I had such a low opinion of myself that it didn't even seem possible. Those people felt so different from me, they were like another species entirely. I was so much bigger and taller. The one time I tried to fight back when they all ganged up on me, I sent a girl to the hospital.
To this day, I have hangups because of everything that happened. The weird thing, though, is that I'm grateful for that hell now. I'm a better person for it all. I do well under pressure, my self-control is better than that of most people my age and I don't need anyone's approval to love myself.
I'm sure you'll get to that point too, Miranda.
And in the meantime, cooking up plans of revenge is great for moral. I've kept notes on every one of those girls in the showers. I won't go out of my way to ruin them but I trust karma: one of these days, I'm going to get an opportunity. I'm not sure what I will do then but I can tell I'm going to do it with a smile on my face.
Thank you, anyway, Miranda, for reminding us that we should all be careful about the names we call other people.
hey, Charlotte right here for a review.
WOW. This was very honest. I love honest writing. To tell the world that you have depression and anorexia is brave. I love and appreciate your honesty.
I was being bullied recently. And it knocked my confidence big time. Yesterday I was literally bullying myself because the clothes looked too tight and my twin was thinner.
Thank you for your honesty here. It hit me big time. I would never call someone ugly or fat but I know people who have and will continue to do so. I loved this. I love how you told them what your name was and wouldn't let them label you. You go girl!
I really loved this. Thank you for writing this. I needed to read something like this today.
Funny, I needed to see this review today because now I'm smiling.
Yay! So now we have both made the other smile!
I am very sorry for the events that inspired this essay to come about, but you do share a powerful and important message. Words can be damaging, physically, emotionally, and mentally. I really don't have much to criticize in this piece, I think the chronological explanation worked to explain your story and give the reasoning to your thesis that name calling is wrong and that people are people.
One thing you might want to watch for is starting sentences with "But" and "Because" sometimes these are just fragment sentences, which aren't as good for getting a point across.
As a comment on the content, I would be cautious about linking conditions like eating disorders or depression with words that people say, because although they might motivate them to start or worsen, generally I think that these things are much more complicated and built upon a series of reasons and societal pressures and ideas. But I can't argue with another person's experience, because I know that people's experiences are diverse and one explanation is never going to be one-size-fits all, so I'm just throwing that out there.
Anyways, thank you for writing such an important piece, and best of luck in your future writing!
~alliyah
font should be fun.
Otherwise...I don't know what other to say besides thumbs up. Keep up the good fight grammatically and mentally.
~Chie
Thank you!