On Being Different

Susie Four Eyes

As I shared in an earlier posting, school was a horrible place for a girl like me. One of five kids, my parents couldn't afford to dress me in brand-name clothes, and I was one of those "weird" kids who liked to read and stay to herself. Not much has changed since I was young. Youth culture is still at war with some of its brightest, most interesting kids. But you know what? I’m in good company. I have something in common with a lot of really famous, successful people.

Robert Pattinson--on the wrong side of his classmates

For all you Twilight fans out there, you may be surprised to learn that teen idol Robert Pattinson recently confessed to being the real-life victim of bullying. This super-hot actor may have won over millions of teenaged girls playing the vampire hero on the big screen, but this 23-year-old superstar was not exactly on the good side of his classmates growing up in Britain. “I got beaten up by a lot of people when I was younger,” he told Parade.com in March. “I was a bit of an idiot, but I always thought the assaults were unprovoked.”

Taylor Lautner--bullied because he wanted to be an actor

And how about Pattinson’s onscreen nemesis, Taylor Lautner. Taylor recently told Rolling Stone magazine that because he was an actor, he was bullied in school. “People made fun of what I do,” he said. “But I just had to tell myself I can’t let this get to me. This is what I love to do. And I’m going to continue to do it.”

Chester Bennington--knocked around like a rag doll

Chester Bennington, of the rock group Linkin Park, is another popular celebrity who also continues to do what he loves -- despite once being the victim of teen cruelty. Chester says that “he was knocked around like a rag doll at school for being skinny and looking different. But, joining a band where his voice mattered really helped.”

How many of you have been “knocked around like rag dolls for being too skinny, or too fat, or simply looking different? Chester found his voice through his music. Taylor and Robert through their acting. I found mine in my writing. What about you? Where did you find the voice that makes you you?

The Hen House

The Hen House

If you’ve ever been to a chicken farm or seen a photograph of the inside of a commercial henhouse, you may have noticed that all the chickens look alike. It’s not just because they are bred that way. They themselves insist on it. If a chicken looks different in any way from the rest—if it is weak, injured, or deformed—the others will begin to pick on it. Literally. They will peck it to death.


We humans may not be as nasty as chickens, but you know that there is a pecking order among students in your school, at every grade. The biggest and strongest continually pick on classmates who look odd, dress differently, are overweight or small and scrawny, come from a different part of town, have unusual interests, or have a different sexual orientation. If you are a non-conforming student, at best you’re excluded; most often you’re verbally harassed and sometimes physically assaulted. Some of the students who put others down and treat classmates cruelly are those most often admired by teachers and honored by administrators; the athletes and student government leaders.

Most of the time, the oddballs in your school survive on internal strength alone, lying low, staying out of the way. A few others may flaunt their differentness by dyeing their hair garish pink or blue and goofing loudly in the hallways. A few students have even hurt so much and felt so alone that they’ve killed themselves. Once in a while one of those students will strike back, as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold did at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. Unable to take the abuse any longer, they lashed out in the most harmful way possible, killing twelve students and one teacher, physically wounding several other people, and emotionally scarring the entire community.

Since that horrible day, school faculties, administrators, student groups, community leaders, politicians, and the media have all given more attention to the problems of school violence, access to guns, and violence in games on the Internet. As they should. But few people have looked beyond the physical evidence at the emotional and social conditions that brought on that violence. Few people have looked at the feelings of alienation, frustration, hurt, and anger felt by teenage students whom the rest of the school community calls weirdos, geeks, nerds, freaks, faggots, and worse.

Let's have an honest look at those feelings. Put a voice to your story and make a difference.

Contributor: From the Introduction by Donald R. Gallo to ON THE FRINGE, edited by Donald R. Gallo. Copyright 2001 by Donald R. Gallo. Used by permission of Dial Books for Young Readers, A Division of Penguin Young Readers Group, A member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.