BULLY ME BITCHES

I am 48 and I suffer from a rare genetic disorder that brings with it a fair dose of depression and anxiety. It may be about to get worse because I'm waiting to find out if I've passed the condition on to my daughter.

Some days are better than others. On a bad day I struggle to get out of bed and do basic tasks and I feel miserable that my life has been reduced to a struggle. But...I have trained myself to push through and on most occasions I succeed. I refuse to be beaten by my condition.

Yesterday was one of those days I was pushing through. I had to fill in some forms and decided to go into town, sit in the sunshine at a nice cafe and eat lunch, while filling out the forms. It was a positive thing to do; even though I was getting frustrated with myself because I have a hand tremor and filling out forms is not my forte, even on a good day.

Forms complete and sun shining I decided to walk for a while. Years of steroids, hormone treatments and inactivity from being unwell have not helped my weight. So when I can walk, I do.

It was a pleasant walk. In a country town there is always someone you stop to talk to. It was fun. I was getting some light exercise and my mood was lifting.

Then very suddenly it ended.

I passed two women, older than myself, who took a look at me walking past and said " you've got to be joking" and started laughing. I was gob smacked.

Was it my clothing? (black t- shirt and harem pants in a black geometric). Don't think so.
Was it my shoes? ( black with a bit of bling; doubt it).
Was it my hair? ( just coloured and cut and very normal).

It had to be the sight of an overweight woman walking.

This was blatant bullying and I'm totally and utterly pissed off by it.

Now, I don't give two hoots that they think the sight of a fat woman exercising is hilarious. That's their shit, not mine. What infuriates me is that this is the sort of behaviour you sometimes get from teenage girls. And I can see so clearly it's learned behaviour from older people who should know better.

Bully me bitches if you have to. But when you go and " tell" the story, I hope there are no young kids around who are being given the subtle "go ahead" to bully and take the piss out of someone their age. That " someone" may not have the resilience I've worked so hard to achieve. Consequences of bullying can be disastrous. Youth suicide is at an unacceptable rate in Australia and world wide. The only acceptable rate is 0%

It's time some adults started to set an example and grow up.