Additionally, I would not trade the experience of being bullied, as strange as that sounds, for two reasons:
First, I had to learn how to eventually stand up to it.
Second, I have a degree of empathy and consideration for others, and I don’t know if those characteristics would have developed that to the degree they have if I hadn’t been subjected to bullying. It made me understand that I am not necessarily better than someone because I am bigger/stronger/better looking/more aggressive/you name it. It has given me a degree of humility that I value. Keeps me from getting too big for my britches.
I have often heard people who have survived cancer say that they wouldn’t trade the experience (which sounded strange to me) because it changed them in a fundamental way that they value...I think I have come to understand that to a degree.
Oh, I agree. I think my experience taught me something about people. It also told me that everything passes. I will say that it made me much shyer as an adolescent and adult than I was before. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing.