By AP/The Huffington Post
ESCONDIDO, Calif. — A woman's poem about being bullied in a California school 25 years ago has brought her former classmates to tears. Now, they've created a scholarship fund in her name and raised $800 to fly her back to California for a class reunion.
Former classmates say they were reduced to tears after reading Lynda Frederick's poem, which she posted on the Orange Glen High School class of 1987's 25th reunion Facebook page.
"This poem touched me so bad I could not sleep…I cried," Frederick's classmate, Lisa Wallace, told NBC News.
In the poem, Frederick, now a mother of three who lives in Seneca Falls, N.Y., described how the bullying she endured as a teenager "shattered her childhood."
that little girl who came to school with the clothes she wore the day beforeinstead of asking why.. you picked on her
the little girl who had to walk to school while others rode the bus
instead of asking why.. you picked on her
the little girl who had bruises and was dirty
instead of asking why.. you picked on her
the little girl who was always crying
instead of asking why.. you picked on her
Classmate Kristi Malone told NBC News that she remembers how cruel the other kids were to Frederick.
"Looking at her being bullied horribly and thinking…I feel so bad for her," said Malone. "But never thinking in my head that I could stand up for her, and not once did anyone back her up."
Frederick's poem has been a wake up call for many of her classmates, Malone said.
"Just people in tears, like 'how could we have done this to her,'" she said. "[They] were just crying, saying 'Why did I do that?'"
Many of Frederick's classmates have since contacted her and apologized.
They have also raised money to fly her to Escondido, Calif., for the July class reunion and have set up a scholarship fund in her name.
"We are making a statement for all that bully anyone, it is not right and it feels bad on both ends," wrote Wendy Bergin Gotte on the high school reunion's Facebook page. "It just goes down the line and hurts everyone along the way."
Frederick said she forgives her old classmates and has accepted the invitation to return for the reunion.
"I said, Christ forgave me..and I forgive you," she said.
Related on HuffPost:
I Stand Alone, The Victim of a Bully, Bullying Poem
Bully Prevention / A "Victims" Poem
Grade 7 Lesson #1: Poetry as the Victim, Bully and
Reader Development for Literature Teacher Training Course
Poems about Bullying - S.P.O.T
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Posted: 05/18/2012 2:18 pm Updated: 05/18/2012 2:18 pm