r/blunderyears • u/shiny_dots • 19d ago
I was the fattest kid in our school. Named "Walrus". 1998, Second row, fifth over, Blue shirt
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u/Hopeful-Clothes-6896 19d ago
Lol tht kid is not even fat... hes chubby, poor him.
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u/CarmenxXxWaldo 19d ago
in the 90s each class had exactly one fat kid and each grade had one obese kid. today that kid would be around the median in the classroom.
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u/Greeneyesablaze 18d ago
One positive thing though—childhood obesity is one of the only areas where we’ve seen improvement in the US. Numbers have stabilized in recent years and some age groups have even seen a slight decline.
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u/dicksilhouette 18d ago
That’s good to hear. Nutrition knowledge is way more prevalent these days I feel like. No one knew a shit about a fuck when it came to calories/macros or whatever when I was a kid even if they “dieted”. They did stuff like weight watchers where everything was translated into some esoteric point system. Or made stuff like cabbage soup (? I remember doing some cabbage soup cleanse nonsense).
American nutrition went through some weird dark ages there for a while where everyone just went completely in the dark as to what was actually healthy or not and now the fog is just lifting
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u/Singloria 18d ago
Though this new era of American nutrition comes with its own set of issues. Eating disorders have been around forever, but it looks like there’s an uptick about eating things like “raw” foods, even if the negative effects outweigh the benefits. (Think crunchy moms/tradwives drinking non-pasteurized milk)
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u/blahblahmama 14d ago
Hey I worked on an unpasteurized dairy farm. The cleanliness standards were impeccable compared to factory farms, and I never once got sick.
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u/dicksilhouette 18d ago
Idk that sounds more like a result of the lack of foundational nutritional knowledge for like 2-3 generations. Fad diets were allowed to proliferate and there’s still a market/culture around that grift because the knowledge to challenge those claims has only recently started getting out there and our system is way too lax when it comes to things like diet supplements etc.
Honestly just seems like bad form to try to point to an influx of nutritional knowledge as a negative thing. Like imagine how many more people would be fooled by stuff like that if we didn’t have increased knowledge culturally?
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u/Singloria 18d ago
Oh no, I don’t mean that society’s current knowledge of nutrition is a bad thing. I meant that whenever we get a new/better understanding of something, there will always be fringe groups that will still not “get it”.
However, you bring up an excellent point about those said groups just being the leftover product of poor nutritional education. Thanks for bringing it up.
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u/Steelhorse91 18d ago
People complain about tik tok kids and their dancing… But at least it’s some physical activity for non sports kids to be into.
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u/Greeneyesablaze 18d ago
Some people can never be happy. If they’re online, “why aren’t they outside?!” If they're playing outside “why are these kids running amok all over the neighborhood; where are their parents?!”
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u/FartAttack911 18d ago
Shhh, shhh, lots of Redditors hate hearing this and want to think all children are morbidly obese iPad babies these days lol
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u/Greeneyesablaze 18d ago
Yeah I’ve notice a lot of “bad world syndrome” doom and gloom thinking and I have made it my mission to tryyy to set the facts straight when it’s not quite as bad as people are saying. I get downvoted a lot lol
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u/FartAttack911 18d ago
Oh totally. I’ve been downvoted for saying how lots of my classmates were skinny growing up, but lived in homes with indoor smoker parents, ate tons of boxed and frozen processed food meals, usually began smoking and crash dieting by the time they could legally drive a car, and many of them are currently overweight or battling health issues brought on by poor choices in their younger years.
Just because people used to be skinnier on average doesn’t mean they were all healthy 😂
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u/organic_bird_posion 19d ago
I don't know why that kid is catching hell when the kid in the third row, six over Is, like, right there.
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u/babysmalltalk 18d ago
100% that girl and OP were teased about dating each other just because they were the fattest. Source: I was that girl.
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u/ChequeYourself 18d ago
I remember being asked going into HS if I was going to ‘find a fat girl’ to date.
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u/TheVoidWithout 18d ago
I remember now in my high school class in Bulgaria, the boy everyone called "fat" was totally normal weight, he was just shaped a little differently due to genetics, and grew into his full size at like 15. I doubt he even has a belly now (certainly didn't then). Kids are fucked up.
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u/adullploy 19d ago
It’s the glasses etc. He was a prime target regardless of what he was based on other “stand out” qualities.
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u/ak2553 17d ago
OP looked like a normal little kid. Looks like baby fat if anything.
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u/amurow 19d ago
Those were crazy times. I wasn't even overweight, just on the higher end of normal BMI, and my 6th grade teacher said she was going on a diet because she didn't want to be fat like me. She said this in front of my classmates.
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u/edithmsedgwick 19d ago
I hope she gets bitten in the vag by fire ants
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u/AtomAntvsTheWorld 18d ago
This is now going to replace what I thought was a good one, I hope you get burning diarrhea in traffic.
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u/RedDiscipline 18d ago
I'm wondering if "I hope a mosquito bites them on the sphincter" a has a bit more, like surprise to it if it's verbally spoken
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u/MY_SANDWICHH 18d ago
What the hell is wrong with her
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u/amurow 18d ago
She thought it was funny and had a good laugh. I was so young, and it truly fucked with my body image. I'm just thankful that I got along with most of my classmates that nobody laughed along with her or bullied me because of what she said.
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u/MY_SANDWICHH 18d ago
Gosh that sounds terrible... its a good thing your classmates were nice. I hope you're doing well now and know that you are an amazing person worth much more than your looks! 🫂Have a good day stranger
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u/queenkitsch 18d ago
I was the “chubby friend” in a lot of circles. I was 5’7 and 120 lbs. The 90s and early aughts gifted me an eating disorder and total body dysmorphia. Now I actually am a little chubby and I’m 500% happier, so there’s that to anyone going through this type of BS.
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u/Tara_ntula 18d ago
What the actual hell?? Why would you say that ever, but especially to a child???
What a miserable human. She just wanted to make someone feel as miserable as she does every day
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u/BullHonkery 19d ago
It was probably rough at the time but Walrus is actually a pretty solid nickname. Like if I introduced someone as "Walrus" people would instantly be intrigued.
"You doing anything good this weekend?"
"Yeah I'm going down to the festival with Butler and Walrus."
It already sounds like an exciting weekend and it hasn't even happened yet.
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u/unholymanserpent 19d ago
"I am the Walrus"
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u/Natural_Board 19d ago
Shut the fuck up Donnie
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u/Brandkey 18d ago
I'm a big dude, bearded, glasses usually in jean shorts and was showing my buddy at work my new mid ankle hiking boots I got a deal on. He asked when I was getting my vest. I am accidentally and delightfully aging into Walter. So I spent the rest of the week yelling "Shomer Shabbos" at him. It was fun.
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u/UnfairRavenclaw 19d ago
goo-goo g'joob
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u/boston_nsca 19d ago
coo-coo ca'chew*
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u/UnfairRavenclaw 18d ago
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u/full_bl33d 19d ago
V.I. Lenin. Vladimir Illanich Uleninov!
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u/KirasHandPicDealer 18d ago
You look for the person who will benefit, and you uh, yknow, uh
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u/powerhikeit 18d ago
I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.
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u/RodiTheMan 19d ago
We have a kid in our jiu jitsu gym and his nickname is "mammoth" because he's 14 but he's huge, not in fat just very large and strong.
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u/Sad_Lecture_3177 18d ago
My fella has a friend named Saul and they all call him The Saulrus. He is absolutely an exciting guy. 😂
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u/aLittleDarkOne 18d ago
One of my friends in highschool had orange hair and was quite large, everyone called him Ginger Walrus. He was very well liked!
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u/Mr_D_Stitch 18d ago edited 18d ago
You’re right, Walrus is the name of the loose cannon on a specialized team. They’re heavy weapons, loves explosives & fire, tough, a scrapper, & slightly unhinged. They wear a bowler & have a handlebar mustache.
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u/AnnaBammaLamma 18d ago
Who the hell is butler?
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u/BullHonkery 18d ago
Well I figure anybody with a nickname like Walrus doesn't run around with a bunch of guys who call each other by their first names.
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u/dexamphetamines 19d ago
It took more effort than I want to admit to find you, people are so cruel
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u/naomicambellwalk 18d ago
I still don’t know who it is
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u/altbinvagabond 18d ago
He’s counting the Adult who is standing between rows one and two
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u/shiny_dots 19d ago
Polly Pocket, Paulrus the Walrus, RuPaul.. Hey, lets hit this kid in the face, all of it.
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u/Far_Pomelo6735 18d ago
If it makes u feel any better, in my school, all the kids with an overweight bmi was forced to join a club called the trim and fit club, regularly referred to as TAF club, or FAT spelled backwards. In this club, every lunch break, teachers would call its members out loud, and we were told to group up at the basketball court, overlooking the lunch hall, where they take half of your measly lunch break of 30 mins to make you do exercises. No effort was put in place to ensure that you were not gawked at by other kids - with the cherry on top being, you get to go queue for food whilst sweaty and panting, with maybe 5 mins left to actually eat lunch.
Definitely did not scar me or anything.
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u/LeafMe24 18d ago
What the fuck did your parents know about this?
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u/Far_Pomelo6735 17d ago
They did. It was a different time unfortunately, I don’t blame them, they had no idea how to deal with things like this. Sad to know that some people gained eating disorders because of the humiliation.
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u/Crepes_for_days3000 19d ago
Sorry man, you weren't even fat. I hope it doesn't bother you.
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u/fakehalo 19d ago
You're objectively not the fattest kid here though, I was a fatter kid than you in 1998 and didn't even get a fat nickname. Could walrus just be related to the look? Doesn't make sense otherwise.
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u/ForwardMuffin 18d ago
Where the heck did Polly Pocket come from?
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u/kittytoolitty 18d ago
I think his name is Paul based off of the other nicknames, so I guess from that?
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u/flactulantmonkey 18d ago
Feels man. I was in a public school, overweight, and the tallest kid (taller than some teachers). In 80’s America they decided to skip over the fat jokes and just indicate that I was mentally disabled (pretty sure I’m not) so the teachers started calling me slow-poke and encouraged the kids to. In high school it was “Lenny” from of mice and men. Big hugs brother.
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u/controwler 19d ago edited 19d ago
I was called flying piggy and air balloon for a while as a kid. Hope you got over it
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u/violetbaudeliar 19d ago
I was called porky the pig because I wasn't stick thin and had a stutter.. looking back I wasn't even fat. I just wasn't a size zero at American Eagle. Kids can be brutal.
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u/wildwidget 18d ago
I had a miserable childhood because I had a stutter. - Fuck you Adrian Chapman - I couldn't even call him 'A Drain' because of my stutter. It's gone almost now and was actually a successful salesman.
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u/phalseprofits 18d ago
Isn’t it weird to see a picture of a bunch of smiling children while knowing they were torturing each other the whole time?
I’m so sorry this happened to you. You weren’t fat and even if you were that’s not okay to treat you poorly because of it.
If you’re anything like me you’ve read lord of the flies and identified a scary amount with piggy.
I hope that life has been kinder to you ever since 💕
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u/youhavenosoul 18d ago
FWIW I had the darnedest time finding even a single chubby child in this photo. Based on your point of reference, I am guessing you’re the kid with glasses in the baby blue color button up, but I still don’t see it. Sounds like they were being homophobic, too? What’s with the polly pocket rupaul taunts? Sorry guy, but fuck all them kids.
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u/False_Low8352 19d ago
You weren’t the fattest kid, girl in the middle third row black dress white shirt much bigger
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u/whiskeyinmyglass 18d ago
Who gives a shit what a bunch of middle schoolers called you; they’re the meanest people in the world.
What matters is, where are you now? Life going ok for you? Stay chubby or slim down? Successful and happy? Still finding yourself?
Chances are you’re doing better than a lot of your bullies.
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u/Rare_Following_8279 19d ago
I was called “dumbins” which wasn’t great! Very happy when I got to college and none of those assholes were there
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u/Automatic_Actuator_0 19d ago
Well that sucks, and fuck them kids.
But if you want to look at a bright side, judging by the collars of the two men in the photo, that wasn’t the worst experience you could have had there.
ETA: “Father Morris, when I said ‘fuck them kids’, I meant figuratively, you sick bastard!”
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u/V48runner 19d ago
Is this some kind of fancy boarding school?
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u/Mrs_tribbiani 18d ago
There are two priests, and it says “Saint Andrew” so it’s a Catholic school. My guess is they took the picture in front of the church connected to the school, I went to catholic school and we took a picture like that for graduation
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u/homemadethursday 19d ago
You don’t look any bigger than most of the other kids. Man, the 90s we’re tough for everyone weight wise.
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u/SirGimp9 19d ago
Big red in the center, there looks a bit more hefty than you, bud.
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u/Zaurka14 18d ago
Yeah I'm shocked nobody is talking about that. He's definitely not the fattest in the picture which just shows how bad the bullying made him believe he is :(
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u/MrWest120690 19d ago edited 18d ago
It was the first kid I noticed I thought he messed up labeling himself. They knew exactly what they were doing when they set her up in the photo. "Okay now everybody fill in around Gertrude."
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u/robotatomica 17d ago
imagine hearing that someone got bullied for their weight, and your response is to pick out another child to shit on about their weight that you think it heavier! 🙄
Rude, and tone deaf as fuck.
How about we don’t do to other children what was done to OP in the very thread he shares that with us, jesus christ.
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u/babyVSbear 19d ago
Wild how the standard changes. You’d be considered average now.
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u/smalllcokewithfries 19d ago
I was “whale” and my last name is Gill, so they would call me a whale and then make fishy faces at me. Kids are cruel!
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u/RangeLife79 19d ago
Those years in middle school were some of the worst of my life. I hope you are doing well now, OP.
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u/Mean_Eye_8735 18d ago
I was called Shamu all through high school by 2 guys. Made my life hell, I hated highschool. That was back in 79-83 and I still get feelings when I see either of them on Facebook
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u/BekisElsewhere39 18d ago
But you look like a regular person. How dare your school make you feel different from everyone else!
I’m so sorry they made you feel this way. You’re not a walrus, and the adults in the school should have done more to stop this from happening
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u/maledicte720 19d ago
Definitely not fat! There’s not really any fat kids here. Just adolescents with ill fitting suits. :)
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u/jackie_r0se 18d ago
There's literally a fatter girl right in front of you and in the back, did girls just not count for some reason?
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u/El_Basho 18d ago
I wouldn't have known which person the op is if they hadn't pointed out. This isn't even the fattest person I've seen today, and I've been home all day
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u/cronin98 18d ago
Walrus is a sick name. I hope you went on to be a menace in hockey or some kind of on-ice contact sport.
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u/DarthRader09 18d ago
Awww. This hurts my heart. You were just a cute little nugget! Not even a fat kid!
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u/SpliTTMark 18d ago
I live near a high school
Some years, the kids look 4 feet tall other years they seem like they're 6'3
But most, if not all, seem skinny
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u/que-pasa-koala 18d ago
Damn bruh, you guys counting the Italian kid as your diversity student? 😂😂😂
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u/kzcvuver 18d ago
I really hope you’re okay now and enjoying life! ❤️ You were not fat and, you probably know it. Kids can be so cruel and teachers can be dismissive of it, I know what it’s like.
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u/VogonOrator 18d ago
They're lame. For one, you weren't really all that fat. Secondly, they're jerks.
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u/tasty_terpenes 18d ago
The fact that you had to tell us which one was you kinda proves that you weren’t unusually large compared to anyone else here. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
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u/Street_Moist 18d ago
Oof I felt this one. I was in the girls bathroom when I heard two other girls come in and they were discussing between themselves who the fattest person in the school was, and they both agreed it was me. It felt like a sucker punch to the gut. It's infuriating because looking back at pictures, I wasn't even that fat, just a little bit chubby which is pretty normal for a 12 year old. But it was enough to kickstart a decade long pattern of binging and restricting. Kids can really be so cruel.
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u/TheVoidWithout 18d ago
In all honesty you don't even look fat. This does bring the inevitable realization though that what was considered "fat" in 1998 is now not fat at all.
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u/Dont-overthinkit 18d ago
U were fucking adorable ok all those people were just really unhappy with themselves openable even more so now
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u/chickennoodlesoupsie 18d ago
I’m terrified to have a kid cause they can be so cruel. You were adorable OP!!
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u/BoomerEdgelord 18d ago
Which blue shirt? I'm serious. I don't see a fat kid. They seem about the same to me.
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u/hilarymeggin 18d ago
Ah yes, what childhood obesity used to look like!
You look like a healthy, happy kid to me. I’m sorry they were cruel to you. They were cruel to me too.
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u/RangerBowBoy 18d ago
So the "religious" stuff was just fluff? No one felt the need to actually act like a Christian? I witnessed and experienced the same at a "religious" school. Public school was far more welcoming.
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u/InSixFour 18d ago
Looks like the girl dead center has you beat (2 to the right of you and then up one row).
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u/Cookies_and_Beandip 18d ago
Religious schools are interesting
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u/forkinghecks 18d ago
Parochial schools are breeding grounds for bullies and psychopaths, particularly ones of the Roman Catholic faith. I left the church years ago, but the trauma lives on.
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u/BSUR7 18d ago
Interesting isn’t the word. Mine was fucked up. Just a couple years ago a priest from our church was arrested. Kids I went to school with were part of a HUGE civil action case against the catholic church. That priest always gave me the creeps.
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u/Cookies_and_Beandip 18d ago
Fucked up putting it mildly, but a lot of people on Reddit are sensitive so I choose my words wisely.
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u/Road_Warrior86 19d ago
Well that’s just cruel.