Horrible Gym Class

I was taught that teachers are there to help us. And typically this is the case. Except for gym teachers. 

I used to go to school with very athletic children. Naturally, gym classes were very competitive and intense. And with extremely athletic children comes extremely athletic teachers. The worst was a woman who didn't take 'I can't,' 'I'm sick,' or 'My bone is literally protruding from my skin,' as an excuse to sit out of class or to take it easy. One can only imagine the fun I had in that class: Crying after a horrible game of basketball where she kept yelling at me to push harder. Her encouraging everyone to call me names when I limped heavily. Being treated horribly by her after my doctor made it clear I am not to participate and should do special excersises instead. And my favourite; The time she made me cry of embarrassment when she pointed out how slow I am, how 'stupid' my knees look and why I'm generally inferior.

What gives people the right to bully another over things we cannot help whatsoever? Especially a child who was too afraid to talk in case I got in trouble. Why do they assume they're so better than us? Just because she could run for hours on end doesn't make her a better person, especially because she had to resort to picking on a little girl to make her feel better about herself. I feel bad for her: she felt so horribly about herself that she had to take it out on a little child in order to help her feel better. And I feel bad that she's only concerned with what people are like physically; She's missing out on some great people in the world because they're different, or if they just don't like sports. I can only hope that she made herself feel great for a life time by picking on me, because I don't want another child to go through that as well.

If you ever find yourself in that situation, do not allow it to continue. Talk to someone who can help and don't stop until there are results. Go to many people who could help- and don't stop talking. Tell people who will listen: You might be surprised of who can help in lots of ways. I know you might be worried that it'll get worse if you tell, but it's important for these issues to be brought to light. Try and have a solid support group to stand behind you- whether it's your school mates helping you in gym, or friends in work who will stick up for you when someone is discriminating against you. It's so important we try to end these problems! It's not okay and it never will.