By
Georgia Trevor
Bullying is a form of
aggressive behavior that is intentional, hurtful, physical, psychological,
and/or threatening and persistent. There is an imbalance of strength; power and
dominance. The problem occurs when this is a continuous situation that doesn’t
stop as generations evolve. Bullying hurts and worst instance, it kills.
Did
you know that Bully
victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than
non-victims, according to studies by Yale University? According
to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either
bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every
day because of fear of bullying 25%
of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying or putdowns and consequently
intervene in only 4% of bullying incidents. Children
and adolescents who bully thrive on controlling or dominating others.
They have often been the victims of physical abuse or bullying themselves.
I’m
sure many have heard about the Canadian teenager, Amanda Todd who sadly was
bullied so much, it’s reported that she committed suicide. Mind you, before her
death, she had tried consuming bleach. She was rushed to the hospital to get it
pumped out of her body. When she recovered, nasty remarks on her facebook page
about how she should try harder to kill herself or try the same action again
because she clearly hadn’t done it right were all over her wall.
I
guess my real question is, when will this cycle stop? Why can’t bullying go
away as fast as seasonal fashion? Bullying hurts. It leaves scars, whether
visibly seen, or not. That doesn’t stop the pain from being any less. Whether
it’s physical, verbal, cyber, whatever! It’s hateful and it gets its point
across. Being bullied is a silent cry because no one sees it sometimes but
those tears are as real as the pain inflicted because of it.
I
once was a victim of bullying some odd years ago. It was hurtful, discouraging
and it left me feeling alone because no one could relate or cared to understand
that I couldn’t just tell the people off. They always came back. From my
situation, those very bullies either apologized later on as the years passed
and I became my own person WITH A VOICE, or they are actually good buds
of mine. Ironic. Though the wounds healed, I still have this strong hate for
bullying. It’s always done to those who are different or just can’t stand up
for themselves. It’s so unfair!
But
what’s happening now is, it’s getting the attention that’s necessary. There’s
hotlines, sites and even well-known celebrities speaking on how bullying needs
to stop! Positive things like that really have an impact on youth.
“It
gets better. It seems hard, you know, I think being different is always gonna
be a tough climb. There's always gonna be people that are scared of it. But at
the end of the day you give those bullies, those people, that are so ignorant,
if you give them the power to affect you, you're letting them win. And they
don't deserve that. What you're doing by being yourself is you're keeping it
real, and you're being really brave.” -Adam Lambert
Whoever said bullying was cool must not have been!
Sites for encouragement:
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