Undergraduate / The Me I am Today - Common App; background or story of an international student [11]

Thank you so much Vangiespen, you have truly been amazing and extremely helpful. I too am becoming very confident in this piece.

Undergraduate / The Me I am Today - Common App; background or story of an international student [11]

Thank you! I believe it is almost ready as well. You have certainly helped me to enhance it.

Undergraduate / The Me I am Today - Common App; background or story of an international student [11]

How is this?
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It is easy to compare most of the people I have known in my early life to the Daleks, a species of mutated creatures from Doctor Who. The Daleks themselves can be considered, the Doctor's bullies. I have come across people who, like the Daleks, seem to lack the ability to feel pity, remorse and compassion. Sadly, I have also learned that we meet and deal with these types of people in our everyday lives. Like the Fifth Doctor who once said, "However you respond is seen as an act of provocation". Bullies were the Daleks in my life and it seemed to me that no matter what I did, despite my kind response, it was only seen as provocation and further reason for my torment.

Bullying was part of my childhood. It's quite ironic that I was still kind to them despite everything. In fact, I shared many similar things with them so I was confused as to why they would target me. My primary school teachers would describe me back in those days as diligent,yet talkative. It was just part of who I was. I have always had a passion for expressing myself and back then, no filter was applied. But I hardly, if ever, spoke to anyone about the bullying. As time went on, I began to keep things to myself, I became more quiet. It was then I needed an escape, a platform that would allow me to say what I could not tell anyone. Thankfully, I found it in writing.

I began writing to release my tension and anger at the bullies and I never stopped. I began by mostly writing about my emotions and the emotions of others. I found it calming and very therapeutic. I discovered writing as a way to express myself and it was not till the beginning of high school, that I decided to share this with others, easing the bullying and ultimately leading me to join two writing groups. Writing empowered me and allowed me to voice what I feared to say out loud, whether it was anger, sadness or confusion. Immersing myself in my writing and the maturity that the bullies and I were achieving eventually led to the end of the bullying. They began to see a different me, a more confident, less doubtful person than they thought they knew in primary school. Writing did that for me. It created a platform, where my reaction was not seen as 'provocation', and offered a great window of opportunity to write about various aspects of life.

To this day I believe one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone is kindness, no matter what its form. Eventually this need led to some fellow students and I forming our school's Anti-Bullying Movement, the first of it's kind on the island and school, creating awareness of bullying. I recall one day during homeroom, when we were to go to different classes to talk to the students about the movement and bullying, I shared my story. I can never forget the look on the face of one of the girls when she called me aside to share with me her own story. Nor can I forget the feeling that developed inside of me. Even today I feel this emotion inside of me when people confide in me that I cannot put into words.

Looking back, I would like to believe that the me ten years ago would be proud of the me today. It occurred to me that I was seeing the past events of my life through the eyes of a child, instead as matured, young adults. Over time, the matured perspectives led the bullies and I to understand that we truly had no conflict between us. The time for apologies and forgiveness had come. The apologies eventually lead to the formation of friendship between a few of my past bullies and I. The forgiveness I have shown them has in turn given me peace.