By: Ms. Jac Domingo

Guidance Counselor – 4^th year level

            I remember when I was in kindergarten, I had this classmate who would always pinch me and stick out her tongue at me.  Then, she would laugh boisterously and point me to other classmates, as I was about to burst into tears.  How cruel, isn’t it?  Can you just imagine how heavy and revengeful I felt that time? (Hu-huhuhu)  My anger stayed in the id part of my dynamics.  I daydreamed of doing the same things she did to me, and how happy it felt thinking she’ll cry in front of our classmates.   I realized now, whenever I look back, that I would be more cruel if my daydreaming came into reality.  What I hated and feared could become me.

      Last August 13, 2006, my children, my husband and I watched the movie “Ant Bully.”  (Well, cartoons and/or animated films appeal even to us adults.)  What I come to realize is that, most of the children’s film have a deeper jolt in me.  Maybe because I would say, that there is a child in each one of us. (continue in the next page)

“A deeper jolt in me”, as I said.   A jolt that led me back to the feeling of being bullied way back kindergarten.  Deep -- because of the wounds that gave me more wisdom to love, forgive and accept differences of each individual.

Hey, I’m not  saying that it was easy to process my own issues.  It was H-A-R-D!  I admit, I became a bully myself.  The daydreaming, the wishful thinking manifested in other ways.  Yup, definitely not towards my bully, but towards other helpless classmates, just like me.

I was like Peanut (the boy in the movie), pushed around and told nasty jokes like: mataba, butete, siopao, etc.  And the anger, the resentment of Peanut was diverted toward the helpless and small ants.  Only to realize in the end, that those helpless and small creatures are his real friends.

Whew!

Now, lets us reflect .  Have we been an “Ant Bully”?  Or even a bully to ourselves? Are we less forgiving and loving because of the bullying others do to us?  And what about the bullying Jesus experienced, yet He never failed to forgive and love us no matter how bully we are.

GOLDEN RULE: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”