Hi, you are “face to face with Shell”.
I hope you are enjoying this series and you are finding it helpful.
Have you seen the previous pages/videos? If not, please click on the links below:
WHEN FAMILY/FRIENDS HURT (PART 1)
WHEN FAMILY/FRIENDS HURT (PART 2)
WHEN FAMILY/FRIENDS HURT (PART 3)
Below is the next video in the series; please watch and read on:
I was burned in a gas explosion when I was 13 years old, whilst on my first family holiday in Spain. I received 50 percent burns (first through to fourth degree burns) therefore, I spent many months in hospital.
Whilst I was still in hospital, someone at my school was going around saying that my friends would know what it was like to hang around with a fritter! What? First of all, a fritter is fried and I was in an explosion, not the same thing…lol.
I wasn’t told this until months after it was said. I also found out that one of my really good friends got to hear about this at the time and was obviously none too pleased.
I was told that the girl was afraid of the consequences of her actions; albeit, never apologising for what she had said. Therefore, I feel, that she was only sorry that she had been “caught” and not actually sorry for what she had said; just sorry that one of my really good friends was angry at what was going on.
I think all of this was enough to deter her from saying anything again, as I never heard anything further.
Why did this girl say such a hurtful thing though? There I was in hospital, fighting for my life and here was someone saying something really horrible.
Was she trying to be funny? What was she gaining from this? Did she really mean what said? She was in some of my classes before my “accident”, she knew who I was, so why was she being so hurtful towards me? I just didn’t get it.
This is how I looked around the time I returned to school (1984).
As I was told about this quite a time after she had said it, I let it go. I thought, what is the point? My friend had defended me and I decided to leave it.
On my return to school, quite a few months after the explosion, I seen this girl. My thoughts returned to what she had said. I felt anger towards her at first; how dare she, she had no clue what I had gone through and what I still had to go through.
I had more to deal with though, I had to let everyone at school see me and this was what I had to concentrate on; getting back into school life. She was not worth bothering about. I knew who my friends were.
She did speak to me eventually. I suppose she probably knew that I knew what had gone on. I didn’t make a difference with her but I made sure I wasn’t really in her company, I didn’t need this sort of person in my life. I needed help and support, not stupid comments.
My view of this situation now is; she probably didn’t mean what she said. She probably thought she was being funny, although being burned and disfigured was/is not funny, especially as she knew me. I hope that she reflected on the situation and learned from it. I certainly did.
Try and rise above the hurtful comments that are said. Very hard, I know. As I have said before; if you are hurt by these comments, that’s ok but try and not to let this hurt consume you, as this will do YOU no good at all.
I had/still have an amazing family and network of friends. If you are going through something similar; I hope that you feel confident enough to talk to someone. If you do not feel that you have this support network, below is a link to one of my other pages, where you will find help and support. There is ALWAYS someone that you can talk to. PLEASE DO NOT SUFFER IN SILENCE:
You can also contact me in the strictest of confidence:
Please stay strong, you can do this.
We’ ll chat soon.