I wasn't going to say anything, was ignoring the thread but now I'm going to have to chime in. I have red hair which varies in color from coke can red to reddish-orange. Think Danny Bonaduchy during the Partridge Family years. It's curly too. Even my sister was jealous of my hair because it has a nice curl to it when longer, her's is straight with a little curl. It grows out also, maybe not afro like, but the top of my head can be full of hair before it covers half my ears.
We moved when I was 10, the first words out of the kids I met was 'Red!' That's been my name ever since. There was a girl I graduated high school with who swore she never knew my first name, the same name as her father's. (head cheerleader rich stuck-up bitch. I can laugh now, she is quite crazy). So there was the red, carrot-top, brain rust, match head, ronald mcdonald, heat mizer (from Rudolf the red nosed reindeer tv cartoon), plus tarbaby for my last name. This is one thing that I KNEW when I was very young, I was smart enough to know when adults were laughing at what I was doing or saying. That sounds very nerotic, but I can't explain it. My mother had a friend who was a manipulative shrew. (Mom finally stopped speaking to her after 50 years) There was something I was trying to explain when I was 5 or 6, and they were sitting there laughing and laughing, it makes me mad even now when I see people make kids do or say things that the adults think are funny. The hunting cabin, all males and drinking. They loved teasing me out there. A favorite was calling me by my sister's name, or saying they would beat me like a redheaded step child (which I was). I was old enough to know they weren't threating me, but it was still bad. When I would walk in a few of the older people would say 'Red on the head like a dick on a dog'. I don't know what it means, but I do think it's funny now. I was teased alot more, other than the given examples like for reading all the time, being quiet, too smart in school, not being good at sports, but I never felt like I was bullied. I am and was a big kid, not all fat either, but have never hit anyone ever. I've taken swings, been really really mad, but nothing else has happened. But now, I love my hair. I'm certainly not going to go bald. It will go white. Now we make fun of my brother: 'What's full of beer and has a silver top? Kenny!' Other than normal shampoo I don't have to do anything for it, it falls just right almost everyday. Even now at 34 I have old ladies who are complete strangers say 'Oh you have such wonderful hair, you should have been a girl.' That's not exactly a compliment, but I understand what they are saying. So I can understand Jeroen being teased for his hair, a lot. And kids are like sharks, they know when someone is wounded from words. Again I never felt threatened, far from it, but was teased. I going to reserve my opinion of schools and bullies for a later time. Kevin T.
