Sovremenny

Unfortunately, I've been picked on and ridiculed for most of my life. Most of it comes from my past language barrier (I'm Chinese) while the rest comes from my past lack of coordination. Also some people did not like my intelligence. The first words I heard in the middle school was "Go home you f--king immigrant." I had no friends or anyone to go to until late high school. I ate lunch alone while people I can only describe using the a--hole word bothered me. Occasionally it became physical and I just succumbed to their demands. I was afraid of more trouble so I did not tell anyone what happened. It continued into high school and people started to threaten me with violence. I was placed in a bad group for lab in chemistry and everyone gave me trouble while I worked. People told me that in high school people don't really care about this stuff so I didn't bother to ask for another group. I also developed a keen interest in world political affairs and military equipment so some people thought this would be the perfect chance to start a rumor. Once someone approached me asking me how to make bombs and what type of weapon would be best for murdering a groups of people. Also people started avoiding me, especially girls, while another group of girls tried to follow me with a video camera. Eventually I was called in with the assistant principal to talk about the rumor. I longed to take revenge at these people, but I did not want to do it in the way those who did at Columbine as I still believed in myself having a very bright future. My grades were still good and I was still confident in myself. I had enough so I told him about everything. I also told my parents the whole story and eventually we had the people who started it expelled. This made me feel very happy that I was actually doing something back. However, I wanted to get back at everyone who wronged me. One of them tried to grab my backpack so I grabbed his and tossed it in the garbage can. Later someone tried to push me so I pushed back and sent him falling down. Someone egged my house so the next time he came by I shot him with a toy gun. I also made friends with a person with similar interests. He was one of the "tough guy" personallity and I helped him cheat on a chemistry tests. However, he kept future bullies from bothering me. I'm not especially proud of this part, but I had to end this. Furthermore, I picked up weight lifting which helped my physical ability. Well here I am, not dead or in prison, but an engineering student at the University of Illinois. I try my best to put all this behind me, as many of these memories must be repressed or they will haunt me. Some people still believe that I'm a potential violent radical. I am not especially proud of the course of action I took, but I believe that it was the best for myself. I made the bullies feel that they were not invincible against me. I hope your son can end this problem. I've been through it myself and sometimes still have bad dreams about it. But being able to personally end the bullying is the best way to end it, as it prevents future problems. And now the one who called me the "f--ing immigrant" is in prison for assault while the others are still in my home town working low paying labor jobs as they did not get good enough grades to go to college. To them:I win.

There are always people who want something and Ebay is oftentimes the first place one would look. Maybe the guy needs money? My friend is selling a lot of things on Ebay out of desperation to buy a new car. However, as an experienced Ebay seller, I don't think someone is likely to buy that for that price.

Good post guy above me. I had a busy schedule during high school, but I stayed active in scouting. It's all about what you want. I didn't work a job, but I traded on Ebay and made a decent amount of money to pay for my hobby of wargaming (airsoft). I was senior patrol leader during the time and came to almost all the meetings and still had little trouble getting a very high GPA. However, I had to give up my Junior Prom with a girl who really hates me now. I was called a loser for a while but oh well, I got into a good college for what I did and I don't regret it one bit.

I believe the problem also lies in boredom. In the past, most SPL's seemed to just waste time during meetings talking about things that 1/2 the guys already knew or had no interest in (Often things that did not benefit them). When I was elected to the position, I tried to do Eagle required merit badges at the meetings while the younger guys worked on advancement with people who already had that badge. I had almost no problems with uncooperative behavior as people were eager to go forward with their advancement. The one guy who didn't go with the program had to be removed from the troop for his uncooperative and sometimes violent behavior. It is a bit of a strain on resources, but it really helped my troop out. Also make sure the patrol leaders do their jobs. Responsable ones are good for gathering information about what their patrols want to be doing.(This message has been edited by Sovremenny)(This message has been edited by Sovremenny)

Hi my name is Phil and I'm a engineering student in central Illinois. The reason I'm here is because I want to get some advice. I grew up in California and became an Eagle scout. However, now the troop I came from is not doing too well. When I served as senior patrol leader, we had about 40 people, but now it is down to about 10. There has also been talk of it disbanding. I want to use some of my spare time to see if I can help it, as I don't think I would be where I am today without them. Also my name means "Modern" in Russian (Yes, it's also the name of a Russian destroyer). I'm interested in learning the language.

We had one group try the name "Great White Gerbils" which was disallowed in case someone belived it to be racist.