One of the students who went to high school with the shooter in Butler, PA this weekend gave an interview where he talked about how the shooter was bullied in school. "He was bullied every day, every single day," he said. When pressed by the reporter on why, he responded that he ate alone at lunch and the kids made fun of him because of the clothes he wore and other things. That story and the fact that this is the Feast of the Franciscan St. Bonaventure, took me back to a memory of the one year I spent at St. Bonaventure University, located in western NY about 100 miles from Erie.
I didn't get bullied, but I was pretty lonely those first couple of weeks, and remember eating alone in the cafeteria. Since I was quite shy at that point, it was an odd feeling to not know anyone and have to eat alone in a dining hall full of other students. It mustn't have lasted too long for I only recall it at the beginning, plus I did make friends, one that I still have to this day! Four of my good friends had entered religious life that year and I was sent off to college. Loneliness and the feeling of being all on my own were my constant companions that year.
I can't imagine what today's bullying does to children in schools, especially, in high school, where they are in the midst of finding their identity and young adult selves. "Every day he was bullied, every single day."
P.S. What happened to the four friends who had entered when I went off to college? All four left religious life within maybe 10 years; all four married; one divorced and has a new partner; one is a widow; one died a couple years ago after many years of "battling" cancer and the fourth is the primary caregiver for her husband who has Parkinson's disease. And here I am, entering one year later...some 60+ years now, taking picture of leaves after a summer rain! Go figure!
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