When you’re getting bullied, it can feel like the tables will never turn. No matter how hard you try, you can’t see your way out of the situation. But here’s a good reminder that anyone can get bullied, and that victims of bullying can become happy and successful adults.
Her name is Lights. She’s a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born Valerie Anne Poxleitner, she now goes by her stage name Lights. The 25-year-old has become a big success on the music scene, and in 2009 won the Juno Award for New Artist of the Year.
Lights’ life hasn’t been all smooth sailing. Home-schooled until age 14, she enrolled in high school and found herself the victim of bullying. She writes about her experience in an essay for the Huffington Post titled simply, “How It Felt to Be Bullied.”
In the piece, she talks about being bullied for her innate cheerfulness. “They hated how much I smiled,” she wrote.
Lights endured, and as an adult, she receives letters from fans who confide their own stories of bullying and heartache.
She writes: “I wish I could grab each one of them by the shoulders and shake them up and say: ‘Don’t you know it has nothing to do with you? Do you even know how great you can be?’”
It’s an inspirational story that reminds us that anyone can be bullied for being “too” anything. Too tall, too short, too smart … even too happy. And someday, these “too” kids can grow up, just like Lights, to be a great support to those who come after them.