I wrote this post on November 19th, 2009. Today I was reminded of this childhood experience and thought I’d repost.  

When I was in 3rd grade, one afternoon on the playground, the girls in my class formed the, “I hate Carol club.” I’m not sure why. Carol was a friend of ours. We all hung out with her regularly. I think there might have been a fight between Carol and another girl and the other girl decided to form this club behind Carol’s back. Somehow, like sheep, we were convinced that we needed to form this group because Carol was a horrible person and needed to be shunned.

Or maybe we were afaid of being shunned ourselves and went along with it.

Regardless, I remember thinking the whole thing was dumb. I knew that Carol felt bad, playing on the playground by herself. I was sure that she could see the sneers of her female classmates and I’m sure it made her sad.

I had an idea. I told the other girls that I would be a spy for them. This way I could still be friends with Carol and also be friends with the “I hate Carol club” girls.

I thought this was such a great idea at the time. But in retrospect I wish I would have had the guts to tell these girls how mean they were being.

It’s crazy, the things kids will do to fit in.

In the end, Carol and this other girl made up and all was right with our group again. And if I recall correctly, this all took place during the after-lunch recess one day.

This memory popped into my head today after reading about some online drama. Yeah. This shit still happens, even when we are adults.