Facing down my eighth-grade tormentor..





Has someone ever made your life a living hell? Has something ever bothered you so much that you never let go of it, even thirty years later? There is two sides to every story, and that is what Steve Almond went searching for, the second half. In middle school Almond was bullied like many kids are today. Some children are able to shake it off and move on with their lives, through high school and college. Other kids are strongly affected by early stage bullying and it sticks with them for the rest of their lives. Now, there are different reasons why a bullying situation would stick with someone through out their lives, one is because the actually bulling was so painful, physically or life threatening. Almonds reason why it stuck with him for so long, is because he wanted to know why his tormentor Sean was so mean to him in their eighth grade metal shop. 


There was no better way for Almond to find out why, then to finally grab control of this relationship, and call Sean, thirty years later. This conversation they have over the phone is the interview provided in this article. Sean barely remembers Almond, and of what he does remember about Almond, was not how he bullied him in eighth grade but how he envied him. Almond grew up with two loving parents, Sean's parents separated when he was young. Sean thrived for that parently love that Almond always had, that was his reason for lashing out and wanting to make other people as sad as he was. Today and surely in the past, people always favor and try to help the victim in a bullying situation. People very rarely look into the bully's life, what he is currently going through, and maybe what influenced him to do that things that he did to other people. Bullys are stereotyped as the football captain or cheerleaders, but a bully can be anyone if they have a motive. Bullys also are said to be bullys just because they are mean and heartless, but most bullys have family problems at home, or have faced serious trauma at some point in their lives. Bullys target people that will make them feel better about themselves because they commonly have low self esteem. Bullys have a side to the story as well as the victim, sometimes it is just important that you hear both before judging.


I love the way Almond tells his story. Reading the story of his life in eighth grade and then reading the interview with Sean was very interesting. I really enjoyed reading the interview, and the fact he left nothing out and was completely truthful made it that much better. Almonds story was a good one, i liked the honestly of Sean and how he basically admitted to Almond that he doesn't exactly remember bullying him but that he wouldn't doubt it because he envied him. THE BULLY ENVIED THE VICTIM. Almond proved that not every bullying situation is what you think and that every one has two sides to the story. It was brave of Almond to use his life story to prove this and to show that interview is an effective way to find peace with yourself and a past tormentor. I truly enjoyed Almonds writing styles i thought it added a lot of character to his story.