Why would I see the need to write about a horrible “bizarre bullying” experience that I had as a teen in the 1970s, rather than relate all of the glory days I experienced? I think we sometimes forget about how hard it can be for a teen to survive the challenges of growing into adulthood. This especially true of those harsh experiences involving mean-spirited people, which the vast majority of kids are affected by at some point during their transition into adulthood.

I do not wish to imply that this stops when we become adults, as there are lots of mean-spirited adults, but kids are more susceptible to “hurt feelings”. We sometimes become passive about how difficult and demanding this time in a person's life can be. We see movies and television that turn the sometimes “horrible experiences” of youth into humorous plots and comical skits.

The fact is, however, that the “teen years” are believed to be the most difficult time in life, according to experts in the psychiatric fields of study (especially for teenagers aged 13 and 14).

I was one of those teens who experienced out-of-control emotions at different points while I was growing up, stemming from experiences that I found serious difficulty coping with. At certain points, I began to resort to methods of escapism, including drug and alcohol abuse. These, of course, did not succeed in providing me real deliverance from my problems, but only served to embed them more deeply into my soul. These “vices”, as some people refer to them, have a real ability to quell a person's pain for moments at a time, but they also make it far more difficult to deal with problems, once the diversion and numbing effects have worn off. They are dead ends. I believe that by sharing one of my own negative life experiences, I can help to demonstrate how serious bullying can be in the lives of teenagers, who are trying to grow up in a tough and sometimes cruel world.