DISCUSSION - Is bullying in books unrealistic to you?

Discussion:
I know I've talked about bullying on here before (you can read that here!), but I want to expand on those thoughts a little more today. Mostly because I just read Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre (it comes out tomorrow!), and it talks a lot about horrible bullying in high school, and because I recently read a review that said the type of bullying in it was unrealistic, because teachers would do something about that, right? (Wow, that's a lot of becauses) But I'm sorry, that isn't entirely how it goes anymore. Well, at least, in my case, it wasn't.
The teachers did nothing when it happened to me.
Over the course of at least three months, I...

• was repeatedly called any and every explicative you could think of in the halls. Be as creative as you can. Because those creative variations and probably worse are what was yelled throughout hallways I walked through all day with teachers standing outside their doors. They didn't say a word about it, and it continued.
• was blasted all over social media. Back in the day, huge posts were full of scathing accounts of what a horrible person I was over bulletins on MySpace.
• received threats, verbal and written, daily. I was even sent pictures of the guns these people planned on shooting me with. I took all the messages to the principal. Nothing was done.
• one parent of the bullies started calling my school and saying that I was the one threatening their kids, and that my date and I planned to bring guns to prom. Still, nothing was done to the bullies. Me? I was the one who was questioned by the same principal who did nothing about the threats I showed her that were sent to me.
• received daily blocked phone calls describing the gruesome ways they planned to kill me. The one that sticks out the most is where they told me they were going to cut me up into a million pieces and put into tupperware dishes.

It took me three tries with the police before anything was ever done.

I finally got a VPO, and everything stopped for the most part after graduation. To this day, I still get calls from a blocked number every once and awhile from these same people. It's been five years.

Of course, this is a drop in the bucket compared to what Edie, the MC in Mortal Danger, goes through. I can't say what she goes through, because spoilers, but it's pretty bad. However, my whole point to this discussion is that just because it sounds horrible does not mean that it doesn't happen. Because it does. 

There were kids in my class who got the shit beat out of them, because they were gay. The teachers did nothing, even though they knew who did it. Fights happened in between classes, and teachers never showed up to stop it. Occasionally they did, but all too often, they didn't. I don't live in the ghetto, or some bad town either. Most of the kids that I went to school with come from middle to higher income homes. Yeah, I'm sure there were gangs or whatever, but I never saw any of that. 

Again, kids are capable of doing horrible shit these days. When my niece was about 6, she was bullied and beat up by another 6 year old on the playground, and the teachers were sitting right there!!! My sister was waiting in her car to pick up my niece, and since she was sitting outside the playground, she saw it. Guess what? They did nothing about it. 

But because all of these instances weren't stopped by teachers, does that make the bullying unrealistic? Does that mean that it couldn't happen? It's frustrating to me how blindsided most of our country is to bullying. Sure, it's better than it was, but it's unnerving what is still going on these days, and to say that it seems unrealistic is ridiculous. Watch the news any given day of the week, and it will prove how this is actually a realistic problem in our society. 

I may sound a bit harsh, but talking about bullying always gets me riled up. I can't say why kids/teens do the things they do, and if I could, I would be worried, because that would make me the same as them. I don't want to understand it, but I can learn from it, and try to help those that are going through these highly likely situations. In my case, much like Edie's, the "beautiful" or "popular" people always get away with stuff. I related to that 100%, because they were the same way at my school. Exactly the same. 

Some of you might not understand it, and that's completely fine, but saying that it's unrealistic is unrealistic. In my opinion, this type of bullying is all too realistic, and it needs to be stopped.

For all my readers/friends that may be struggling with any type of bullying and need an outlet or someone to talk to, I'm here for you. Don't be scared to contact me through twitter, or any way you want to. I'll be your shoulder to cry on. Not many people have one of those when they go through something like this. Edie didn't. But luckily, I had my parents. (FYI they're pretty much my best friends) But whether you have no one or someone, I'm still here if you need something. I care about you, and referring to Mortal Danger one last time, suicide is never the answer. EVER. Talk to someone. 

Okay, I lied. Last thing regarding Mortal Danger, I applaud Ann Aguirre's risk of talking about this type of bullying. It is real. It does happen. Thank you for writing about it, Ann. 

Let's discuss! This isn't a sympathy post. I've come to terms with my bullying. However, you've read my thoughts about bullying. What are some of yours?