My Enemy
By Darcy Nemo
@YrNemo (20255)
February 18, 2023 4:11pm CST
Up until year 8, I used to be bullied by a kid who lived a few doors away from my place.
The nightmare of being mentally tortured constantly by that neighbor kid, stayed with me for too long, that every time I got pushed around again, I would think of that pretty & cute classmate of mine. (Should I considered myself as being special when such a pretty and charming girl always chose me as a target for her entertainment?)
My mother never supported me in fighting against bully. She would tell me,
- (when I was in kindergarten up to year 8, against that specific bully) just bear with it for peace in the neighborhood, OK? Her mother is just envious of my success as a career woman, so that woman (a stay at home mother) is pushing her daughter in playing this game.
- (when I was older) It must be your fault!
I do support peace in the neighborhood, so perhaps my mother did have a point there (didn't she?) but she couldn't be right in saying that everything wrong which happened to me, must be my fault, could she?
NB. I took care of that bully by the time I was 11YO, and again, at 12YO. (That girl was really persistent OK!).
- The first time, I pulled up my sleeves and said I was ready to fight her directly, in front of about 100 spectators (we were at some sort of kid camp). That pretty girl & her gang backed off so fast I was so surprised.
- The second time, her plan of framing me in front of our classroom, got backfired spectacularly. As a result, her gang was disbanded, all kids in the neighborhood learned to avoid her afterwards (while I continued to be captain of all my high school classes).
Decades passed, but every now and then, I would keep thinking about that odd classmate of mine and wonder how she is now.
Have you ever thought about your past enemy?
18 people like this
17 responses
@DaddyEvil (137256)
• United States
18 Feb 23
I'm sorry that happened to you. I've never had an enemy so didn't have that type of experience... I don't think your mom was right to try to keep peace in the neighborhood at your expense.
When Pretty was 7 or 8, she and a friend that was staying with us were outside playing when they came into the house and told me a lady three houses down was yelling at them to stop making noise. I KNOW Pretty and her friend were in our yard, so it wasn't anyone else's business how much noise they were making. It was in the afternoon and they were home from school.
I went out with them and told them to play. Sure enough, as soon as they started talking, the woman three doors down came out and started yelling at them. I yelled back that she could mind her own business, I was quite capable of taking care of my daughter and her friend. The woman was startled to see me in the yard with them and quickly retreated into her house... No more problem.
I won't start trouble but I certainly will finish it.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (137256)
• United States
18 Feb 23
@YrNemo Thanks... Yeah, she wanted to nap in quiet..
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
19 Feb 23
@DaddyEvil She should have lived in my suburb then, where a next door neighbor has an illegal dog sitting business, another neighbor constantly fixing something with some electrical appliances, or banging or drilling (even at close to midnight), while another has a youth who keeps playing drums or trumpet like a beginner for the last 20 years....
2 people like this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
19 Feb 23
I had some déjà vu feeling when a person with similar name tried contacting me out of the blue recently, and played some similar tricks. But this person is like a crow physically wrt to the other one, a kingfisher. (They have different (maiden) family name, so they can't be the same person.)
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
8 Mar 23
I just by chance, found out that one of my rivals (who used to try all sort of dirty tricks to harm me when we were in primary school, only because I got better grades than her), ended up having such an awful life after college. I felt bad for her, since she was such a bright kid and could have gone on to become very successful in life. But now that she is stable on her feet again, I think she has reverted back to her old self from the ways she dressed up in all those photos she showed us on Facebook. (She has a very competitive nature.)
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (180323)
• United States
19 Feb 23
Not really, I never had any real enemies in school. A kid here and there who might have made a negative remark, but no ongoing harassment.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
21 Feb 23
That still puzzles me until this day of why that girl kept targeting me. (I had no special gift or talents like her - she had such a beautiful soprano voice, a cute face, a charming personality etc.)
Suddenly it hit me: I never worshiped her, and that fact must have annoyed the hell out of her!
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
19 Feb 23
I wasn't ever bullied like that. Good for you for standing up for yourself. I did have a girl in third grade who would call me Gertrude or some such thing, so my mother told me to call her Murgatroyd. I did, and that was the last time she did that.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
19 Feb 23
@LadyDuck Did your mother have to pay a lot for the annual school fee there? Plenty of parents told me that they mortgage this that in order to let their children have a better future in private schools. (in some countries years ago, got into private schools are easier than government schools which were so rare then. Because of that, all my older siblings attended private schools.)
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160600)
• United States
19 Feb 23
Occasionally, but usually it was when I remembered that someone stood up for me that I did not expect. Of course I am not in the same old neighborhood at all.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
21 Feb 23
It is odd, but I keep thinking of that pest who caused me so much trouble during my childhood. I wonder if she has changed for the better.
@RebeccasFarm (89832)
• Arvada, Colorado
19 Feb 23
What a rotten batch that bully was. I hope it came back to her Darcy.
Sorry about your Mom not taking up for you and on top of that blaming you..that is not cool at all.
No wonder you still think about that bully..if you would have been supported I doubt you would think of her.
Well, mine was a psycho that did severe damage..so that one yes I do think of the trauma.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89832)
• Arvada, Colorado
19 Feb 23
@YrNemo You are strong and resilient because of your Mom saying those things, but it does hurt.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
19 Feb 23
I had a few weird (but similar) events happening at work suddenly last week, which made me think of that pest in my childhood. While mulling on why some kindness on my part, resulted in me being abused by some ungrateful brats at work, I suddenly thought of my mother's famous saying, 'it must be your fault that people did so and so...' (Now I know why I have always avoided my mother whenever I encounter any troubles. )
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (105787)
• Marion, Ohio
19 Feb 23
I never really had any trouble. Sorry you did
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (105787)
• Marion, Ohio
19 Feb 23
@YrNemo Glad you did finally stand up to her and it ended
1 person likes this
@MrDenata (12242)
• Indonesia
19 Feb 23
I'm so sorry that you had experience that, as a victim bullied myself when i was kid, i never told my mother about several boys who bullied me, the older i get, i met a few of them and they really nice to me that time, and i still remember what they did to me in past, i forgive them but not forgotten LOL
1 person likes this
@Barongo (29)
• Nairobi, Kenya
19 Feb 23
Yes, there is this boy who used to bully me while in high school until one day I had had enough and gave him a thorough beating out of anger. I was surprised that I beat him up because he was physically bigger than me. We even ended up being friends and he never bullied me again lol.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
21 Feb 23
That was a funny ending! Guess he bullied you in the beginning because he saw something interesting in you, but couldn't pinpoint it so he kept target you (as a way to attract your attention!).
@Letranknight2015 (51937)
• Philippines
19 Feb 23
I was bullied too, from grade 5 to 6. Then from 1st to 2nd yr high. My confidence level went so low back then that I didn't know i was handsome. Some of them are married with kids. I tried not to look in their social life though. I really know the feeling. At least with you were able to stand up for yourself.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (79622)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
18 Feb 23
I am one of the lucky ones I never had an enemy or anyone who bullied me, If you know her name and are curious perhaps see if you can find her on FaceBook,
1 person likes this
@aninditasen (16377)
• Raurkela, India
19 Feb 23
My elder son was very quiet in his childhood and I being the teacher at times in the same school did protest and had to face hot arguments. Today he is a tough project manager and people fear to bully him.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20255)
•
19 Feb 23
Good on you! It is never easy to work in the same school where your children attend. You managed that, congrats.