A Case for Bullying

On behalf of the victims of bullying, I’d like to present my story. When I was in junior high school, I got the crap kicked out of me by Jason Price. Neither of us had much of a family life. I dealt with mine by making jokes, and he dealt with his by being held back a few years. Obviously, it doesn’t take much of a screen play to see how we would interact…

Did I mention I was about 100 pounds soaking wet in junior high?

So here I am with Jason’s knee hammering off my testicles, thinking “This sucks.” After vomiting for a bit, I walked home and started getting to work. I never wanted to get my ass kicked like that again.

The Role of My Parents

I guess today you would say, “Oh my God, you poor thing, let's expel Jason and get you into counseling and maybe even have a pep rally for you. We can all wear pink shirts.” Ironically, Jason loved wearing those Ocean Pacific pink T-shirts…and sweat bands. God, so many sweat bands. What happened to me? My mom sent me out to get her some smokes…

So I’m not saying that my awesome parents helped me overcome the bullying and taught me how to stick up for myself. I had to figure that out on my own. Many kids choose to turn to music or drugs or cutting. I chose to lift weights. OK, I listened to a lot of Nine Inch Nails, too.

The Challenge

I started with that shitty Weider all-in-one bench with the damn leg extension machine. I trained every day for hours. I lived off skim milk powder and drank a gallon of milk a day. I had no clue what I was doing. We ate shit food because Mom was drunk way too much to go buy organic ground beef, and I didn’t have any role models to inspire me. So I got a job at a grocery store to afford more protein.

I’m not writing this so you will feel sorry for me. I’m actually very proud of what I learned in that time and what I have managed to achieve in my life. I truly believe that the only essential component of a happy life is challenge. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the joy in overcoming it.

Now

Today, I'm a 310-pound powerlifter with CPF records for raw lifting. I squat 700 pounds, bench 405 pounds, and am getting close to an 800-pound pull. I own a gym, and I have a great business. We help almost 100 people improve their lives and learn about personal development through strength and conditioning training. I served nine years with the Canadian Military Engineers, competed as a Canadian Strongman for three years, played Rugby for a decade, and have basically spent my entire life learning about what I love, which is how to be strong.

As Henry Rollins says, the best way to get revenge on shitty parents is to achieve all your dreams and have a great life. Then write them a postcard saying, “I did it without you. Choke on it.”

There is one person I would like to thank for those early years of learning how to be stronger.

Thanks, Jason. Oh, and sorry about kicking your ass at the prom.