How It Feels to Be Different Tin Nguyen I was just a sixteen-year-old innocent Vietnamese boy. Everyone thought I was a very calm, intelligent classmate. But no one knows more about me. No one knows what they’ve seen in my mind. You’ll probably never know what I actually went through. Now, let me share this story with you all. When I was a little boy, my world changed. When I was in first grade, I was the victim of bullying. It makes my learning skills and social skills much more difficult. That’s why I always stay quiet for the rest of the class and remain silent. It’s like a super glue that sticks between my mouth, while I try to talk and express myself but it won’t budge. Everytime I try to say something, I can’t. I have to say the words to myself. Sometimes bullying is too much for me, and it makes me depressed and furious. Like the fire keeps raging inside my body. I try to control myself but I can’t. I’m afraid. I’m sick and tired of tears that keep pouring between my eyes, and I tell myself, “Everything is going to be okay.” When I was little, before I came to the United States, I was too optimistic and too excited to go to school for the first time. But why do they treat me like this? After the dreams I’ve had? Should I blame myself for that? It makes me feel embarrassed when I keep thinking about the situation I’ve gone through. I was only 7 years old, and I was marginalized. I knew I was different than the others as I came here to America from Vietnam.
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