Bullied at age 26

Tonight I went to the Orioles game against the Yankees. It wasn’t a great experience. I enjoyed it because I got to see my Yankees play and I got to spend some quality time with my friend John. The part that made it lousy (Besides the 3-2 loss for my team) was that four people behind me ripped into me for 3 and a half hours. Now I wouldn’t usually complain, going to Camden Yard with a Yankee t-shirt, rooting for the Yankees does deserve it’s criticism, I would want to defend my home team too. The thing that dug into me was the fact that these 3 guys and 1 girl targeted me, they picked away at me, they weren’t making fun of my team, they were making fun of me. These were 4 people who had graduated college and they just picked and picked and picked. I responded to them twice telling them to leave me alone, unfortunately that fueled them. I did my best to ignore them, I prayed for patience (which worked considering I didn’t lower myself to any level), I tried to focus on the game, I tried talking to John and the people around me but they were in my head and it hurt. It hurt because they didn’t know me but felt they had to point out flaws and do it in front of friends and strangers. So why do I bring this up?
It’s midnight and I can’t get to sleep, like I said I was picked on for 3 and half hours, I don’t care how old you are, this stuff hurts. Some might think I’m overreacting, I’m just blogging, trying to process this on a different level. What I thought about on the way home is what is keeping me up. What is on my mind and what tonight’s incident reminds me of is all the bullying my middle school and high school kids go through every single day. I’m 26 years old, I can defend myself I know to walk away; however, someone who is in 6th grade or 9th grade might not be able to handle it, they might get depressed, react with anger or worse. Everyday on myspace, facebook, blogs and websites people are put down, people are knocked down, I hate the fact that this goes on, but I mostly hate the fact that I’ve been a part of this in the past.
It’s a shame that things can get so nasty. It’s amazing how much people’s words can hurt so much. The worse part of tonight was when the three guys came up to me after the game to shake my hand and act like we were all cool. I told them that I wasn’t cool with the way they treated me, with the way they acted and with the things they said. I told them I was upset and told them that they need to get a handle on themselves. The reason they wanted to make sure I was cool is because they were looking for me to validate their actions. Why validate what they did? What they did was wrong and I hope that they got the impression that I was offended.
I think it’s important to teach our youth to be competitive and to have team spirit; however, when it comes at the price of putting others down it becomes wrong. It’s wrong when it’s done online, at school, wherever. I just pray that those who bully (especially the guys from tonight) find whatever it is they need to stop putting others down. I pray God that you be with them, keep them safe, teach them kindness, show them your love. I pray that you forgive me for the times I’ve bullied, put others down and reacted in the wrong way.