Adult Bullying is a Real Thing

I was raised in a dysfunctional household and suffered much abuse at the hands of my mother. I never really developed a strong sense of self esteem or self confidence and was not popular in school, in part because my childhood was not one that was conducive to making friends and encouraging relationships. I left home in my early 20's and never returned.

This year has been a year of so much change in how we see and perceive people we thought we knew as friends and allies. I am not a political person, choosing to for the most part to avoid conversations about the heated topics of politics and religion. I will debate in friendly ways with people I know but when things get heated I withdraw... a learned response, I guess, from my childhood where to disagree or speak out brought suffering. Unfortunately in my small town, I am on the "wrong" side of the political spectrum... in a mostly "Trump Country" town, I am a Biden supporter. There are actually quite a few of us in my town.

We have a community bulletin board type site on Facebook that used to be great for posting community events and issues and advertising local businesses and things like that. This year, it has been taken over by politics and the owner of the site is- you guessed it- one of the Trump people. I have nothing against anyone's politics if they are fair, but this community site began to be used to harass Biden supporters, organizing car parades and encouraging people to honk car horns at their yard signs at all hours of the day and night. I had posted several times asking people not to honk at my house because it bothered my dog and made her bark (she's old) and her barking made my head hurt (I was working while going through treatment for a brain issue) and I was jeered and threatened.

With the elections over (though still contested), I made the grave mistake of commenting on a political post on this community site that it would be nice to see the politics end... and I was crucified. I deleted what I said and people continued posting insults and ugliness. I was told by several people to just scroll by if I didn't like a post... However when I put up my own post and people responded with rudeness and I asked that they not do so I got the same replies and again was told to scroll by if I didn't like them...

This is a small town where people used to nod and say hi to everyone they met at least. However no one in this town has ever gone out of their way to help me with anything... I have never asked or expected it. However when a town turns it back on someone who has spent 34 years doing community work, donating time and money, giving gifts and prizes to every school and community raffle event that comes around and working almost every community event for 30 of those 34 years something has gone wrong with that community. The bullying and back stabbing hurts, especially when the victims have done nothing but have a different opinion and point of view.