The Bullied Address Bullying

 

Bully. Bullied. Bullying. What image comes to mind from hearing such words? Horrific images of teens throwing crude words at each other. Typing false comments and labeling others with harsh words and statements. This all sounds so wrong and harsh, sometimes we prefer to ignore such things happening. But, the reality of it is that it is happening all around us, each and every day. In some cases, teens have been bullied so badly, they decide to take their own life. In what world is that okay? How can we stop such acts if no one ever tries? Bullying is a major problem in high schools all around America and it needs to have an end before it’s too late. 

A recent story that completely shocked me was from a high school in Michigan. The Traverse City high school came across students creating accounts on twitter to bash other students. These comments were made about other students appearance, significant others or just make comments about students who they didn't like for being "different". This personally disgusts me on so many different levels. The level of disrespect teenagers have for each other is so minimal now-a-days. It seems so easy for students to hide behind their computers and cell phones and talk about each other. A student from the high school quoted "I realized that most adults don't take this kind of thing seriously. They look at it as something you can ignore, when in reality it is in your face." This quote is so absolutely true. Often times, many teachers and adults will just ignore it or push it aside. They see it as something so small and stupid, just teenagers saying harmful words. But they aren't harmful! They can seriously hurt someone’s reputation or self esteem. When did students get so rude? Its even more shocking that students recognize the teachers ignoring the issues that are clearly right in front of them. 

A real inspiring story that i came across was about schools in Jamestown making efforts to put an end to bullying in their schools. A group combined together that all has one common goal: stop the hate. Every school has it, those kids who just feel the need to talk about everyone or the kid who is constantly talked about, even though they haven’t done a single thing wrong. Seeing it in the hallways is absolutely disgusting and these students at Jamestown are simple inspiring. Every school should have a group that works together to put an end to bullying. The principle at this Jamestown school said, “We chose to be proactive, we didn’t necessarily see a huge problem. We just thought, how can we do proactive? How can we make our place better? How can we handle this as a Lincoln community?” This is a school that has little bullying, but is still aiming to make the school a better place. How about the schools where bullying is a major problem? Why don't they have special programs aimed to stop bulling. I believe that every school needs a group that helps make the school a safer place. No one should ever be scared to go to school. 

When researching bullying and its effects, I came across a story of a 12 year old boy who commit suicide after being bullied. If you’re not disgusted after reading the first sentence, do you even have a heart? A poor, innocent twelve year old boy taking his own life because of the cruel words of others. This 12 year old boy from Sapporo, Japan took his own life by jumping off the top of a building. How absolutely brutal. In his note, he mentioned that he had been bullied and was regularly beaten and abused by other students. It was also mentioned in the article that teachers knew of this bullying and never stopped it. How do you see such things happening and not say anything about it? I am sickened at the fact that teachers could have helped or tried to stop these attacks and didn’t, resulting in a young boy taking his life. This boy was just starting to live his life, not even a teenager yet. How sickening that someone could push someone to take their own life. 

Another story that saddens me is about the 14 year old boy who commits suicide after being bullied. Jamey Rodemeyer was an openly bisexual student who was proud of who he was, but was bullied because of it. In an interview with his parents, Jamey’s father said "To the kids who are bullying they have to realize that words are very powerful and what you think is just fun and games isn't to some people, and you are destroying a lot of lives”. There is so much truth in the words said by his father. I don’t think that people truly understand what they do to people when they say such mean, hurtful words. How can you be so cruel to pick at the lives of others and push them to taking their own lives? What’s even sadder about Jamey’s story is the fact he covered up his pain and hurt so well. No one saw it coming and they said that Jamey looked fine in the days leading up to his suicide. In a video Jamey posted on his YouTube, he said “That's all you have to do. Just love yourself and you're set. And I promise you, it'll get better”. He was so inspiring to many other people, promising that everything will be okay. But he was driven to taking his own life because of what other people had to say. Jamey’s inspiration was the world famous Lady Gaga. He often used her words for inspiration and to keep him going. I believe that Jamey is an inspiration to many openly gay people in the world. People should take his story and learn from it and know that it does get better.  

At my school, Bishop Kearney, we have rules surrounding bullying both verbally and over the use of technology. These rules are in the front of our planners, in a small font which sometimes seems impossible to read. Is this enough? Absolutely not. I believe that we as a school community need to stand up for whats right and change whats happening. We need to stop bullying in out halls and over the internet. It isn't fair that some students dread each morning knowing they have to come to school. Everyone should feel welcome here and everyone should want to come here each morning knowing they always have someone to turn to. I hope that in due time, we will have groups that help us to put an end to bulling and stop the hate.