Stand up against Bullying

George’s classmate would always kick him or slap him at the back of his head. One day George had enough, he threw the bully onto the ground and started kicking him. After that day the bully stopped bothering him.
Thats called one way of stopping the bully.

You might wonder if others have had this experience. Bullying was never a new problem it is just that more people are becoming aware of the problem now. To see how many teenagers are bullied, the reporter put a poll on a social media website. Of the 50 votes 80% (40 teenagers) are bullied. And the remaining 20% have not been bullied. The reporter took another poll to see how many people stood up against bullying. Of 43 votes 53% have stood up against bullying while being bullied. 30% of the teenagers have stood up against bullying but they have never been bullied. 9% never stood up for themselves. And only 7% have never stood up for anyone. This shows that some of the teenagers know how to stand up for themselves and a few don’t. “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” – Tim Fields. Basically, just be yourself even though others might judge you. You should not care of how others perceive you as long as you know who you are.

Peer pressure and bullying are the worst types of influence. People get bullied in many different ways and no one sees nor realizes the pain victims go through physically and emotionally. There are many different reasons to why people bully each other. Some bully for attention or because of misunderstanding differences. ‘People want to destroy your dreams and ruin your life, thats how people are, so ignore them and keep doing your thing’ says Alex a 10th grader. Sometimes bullying starts when the victims friends go too far with teasing them especially when the victim doesn’t let the bully know that they’re going too far. Bully's sometimes bully because they are either jealous or hurt themselves so they put all their anger into hurting someone else.

To find out more about how bullying starts the reporter asked a counsellor for more information. Some bullies lack of self-esteem or confidence so they bully other people. The bully could have possibly been bullied in the past so they repeat the same behaviour on others. If people do not stand up against bullies, then the bullies will feel more empowered.

According to Derek, a grade 11 teenager, ‘If you see someone being bullied,help them, if you ignore the bully; The bully will keep bullying them and others. If no one stops the bullies then who will?’
The people who can’t stand up against bullying can't or just don't know how to fight back on their own and others. They need help and support. Everyone should have the right to feel safe from bullying, and not forced to face it alone.

Victims should try to ignore and avoid the bully because if they don't react to the bully then the bully will stop. Victims should have the courage to stand up against bullies even if the bullies are their own friends. Victims should atleast talk to an adult about their problems. According to the i-Safe America survey of students bullying statistics, about 58 percent of kids admit to never telling an adult when they've been the victim of a bullying attack.

What people do not understand is that if you stand up for yourself against the bullies, they will actually stop bothering you. George adds ‘I used to do judo before, I am still good at throwing people down. Use your strength or learn martial arts to fight off the bullies.’ It is really helpful to block or fight the bullies because most of them just stop after getting their own medicine. You can defend yourself and others from being bullied. To find out more about how victims can stop being bullied the reporter asked the counsellor for more information. If the bully is making fun of you just joke about yourself with them. For example if you got a haircut and the bully is making fun of you just tell them something like ‘Ya, don’t go to that hair salon!’. You can also ask your friends to help you walk away from the bully. If the bully continues making fun of you tell them that it isn’t funny anymore. If you have warned them to stop go and tell a trusted adult. The reporter also asked the counsellor how a bystander can help someone being bullied. A bystander can help by stopping the fight and also help the victim walk away from the bully. They can also go get an adult to help.

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” –Winston Churchill
If you do not stand up for yourself then you will never be free. Take your chance for freedom now or be the fool..

Stand Up For Yourself

‘Don’t listen to what other people say, if you want to do something just do it..’ says Matt.

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” – Tim Fields.. Basically, just be yourself even though others might judge you. You should not care of how others perceive you as long as you know who you are.

Hidden and alone Larry was always at the back of his group of friends. Larry was in a group of five. Larry shared his story of peer pressure. He was always mistreated and misunderstood by his friends. Even though he was always bullied, he endured the pain. He stayed in the group because he was too scared to be alone. It did not help that everyone in his grade hated all five of them.

One day, Larrys friends started cornering him. They threw Larry on to the ground and started kicking him. The bystanders around them did nothing but laugh at Larry. No one left to go get the teacher. He could hear the dark voices in his head going: ‘What a loser!’ ‘He is so weak’. Some people even started thinking that Larry was a bad person. All of the sudden Larry cracked under pressure.

‘Stop!’ yelled Larry. Silence fell in the corridor only raindrops could be heard. One of the bullies spoke ‘Do you really think we will? A loser like you don’t get to speak up to us.’ One mississippi: ‘You are just a parasite.’ the bully continues . Larry stands up. Two mississippi: ‘A parasite who leeches of every-’ Larry stops the bully by punching him in the face. Three mississippi: Silence again…‘What are you doing?’ yells an infuriated teacher. A teacher showed up at the right place but at the wrong time. Once Larry came back to school after his suspension, he was never bullied again instead people treated him with respect. He felt like Rosa Parks; Fighting for what he wanted.

Peer pressure and bullying are the worst types of influence. ‘People want to destroy your dreams and ruin your life, thats how people are, so ignore them and keep doing your thing’ comments Alex. If people do not stand up against bullies then the bullies will feel more empowered. People get bullied in many different ways and no one sees nor realizes the pain victims go through physically and emotionally.

George wanted to share his story with the reporter. George’s classmate would always kick him or slap him at the back of his head. One day George had enough, he threw the bully onto the ground and started kicking him. After that day the bully stopped bothering him.

George adds ‘I used to do judo before, I am still good at throwing people down. Use your strength or learn martial arts to fight off the bullies.’ It is really helpful to block or fight the bullies because most of them just stop after getting their own medicine. You can defend yourself and others from being bullied.

‘If you see someone being bullied,help them, if you ignore the bully; The bully will keep bullying them and others’ says Derek. ‘If no one stops the bullies then who will?’ adds Derek. Victims should have the courage to fight against bullies even if the bullies are their own friends. It is better to be alone than to be suffering by emotional and physical pain. What people do not understand is that if you stand up for yourself against the bullies, they will actually stop bothering you. Its much better to voice your opinion against the bullies especially in anger and the emotions you feel inside. They will then finally understand how they made you feel.

An 8th grader shared her story with the reporter. She had 6 friends who bullied her both physically and emotionally, one day she finally had enough and stood up to ‘the leader’. The 8th grader’s close friends were on the bullies side they never supported the 8th grader. She would always pick fights with them. But, she never separated away from them. When she did, it was because her close friends also started getting bullied by ‘the leader’. ‘I still regret I didn’t leave them earlier..’

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” –Winston Churchill

If you do not stand up for yourself then you will never be free. Take your chance for freedom now or be the fool..

Society doesn't need to tell you who to be. You need to tell yourself who to be.

Darkness fills the whole street but inside the light of *Arabella’s room, but it is the darkest and most painful room of all, with open wounds and fresh scars,tears streaming down her face, blood from her hands, trembling she opens her laptop, and returns to her escape. Her dashboard is filled with both motivational messages and depressed messages. She wipes her tears, silently crying just like how she struggles, peering into her laptop she scrolls. All because she is different from the rest. She looks at the mirror and repeats to herself like every other painful day ‘no one will know, and no one will find out’ she washes her face and cuts and puts on a plastic smile. She whispers to herself ‘no one will know, and no one will find out. 

And we finally understand the words.'funny when you’re dead, how people start listening’. Finally, after years of wretched life she, like many others gave up. And family and friends are shocked they should of helped when they had the chance, but let it slip right through their hands. Now everyone thinks she the most beautiful girl and wished they were there to support her but they are too late. And to all the bullies, they are in some way a cause for their death, and it will haunt them forever. And just like that a life is gone from a teenager killing herself with negativity because of the standards that say they will never be ‘good enough. 

Every day around the world, millions of teenagers are pressured to be like others and be what society wants them to be. People are often caught between who they want to be and who they have to be to fit in. And no matter how hard they try they never fit in, they’re killing themselves with negativity.
This is something everyone faces at one point or the other. And mostly this change you and how you think of yourself and how you think others see you. A simple case is how media suppress the truth, though photoshop and lies. Girls are lead to believe that they need to be a size ‘0’ have a thigh gap, need to have a light skin tone, flawless skin, blonde/hazel hair basically a perfect girl, only she is unachievable. This makes girls feel like they are worthless and will never be good enough.This leads to zero self esteem and deeper issues like Depression, bullying,seizures, panic attacks and self harm.

This isn't only for the issue of women's body image these side effects are for everything that causes people to feel like they aren't ‘good enough’,people are afraid to express themselves as they think their peers are going to judge them and mock them. Some communities and schools aren't accepting and teenagers have to resolve into hiding their sextuality, just to fit in. They have been repeatedly told by others and themselves that liking the same sex is wrong! Who are egoistic, half baked (straight) teenagers, to judge a peer for being with someone their heart desires. Furthermore, parents (and adults) must stop being insensitive and telling their child that something is wrong with them just for liking the same sex.

Often times teenagers try to get through this pressure by doing things that harm them even more a common reliefs are drinking, smoking or doing drugs, this can start at the age of 14 or 18, though, who can blame them for giving themselves misguided advice, they are only children who have lost their way. And though those are extremely common reliefs people resort there are more and one of the most painful and self wrecking relief known to teenagers, Self harm.

As it is often misinterpreted self harm isn't just cutting, it is also burning, scratching, banging or hitting body parts, interfering with wound healing ,hair-pulling and the ingestion of toxic substances or objects and eating disorders,most of these actions are done out of suicidal intentions but it is more than that. It is when teenagers feel like they aren't good enough and their life is messed up , to a point where is can never be good again, and the only thing they have control over is their body.

They feel like they aren't good, they feel frustrated and annoyed that they can never do anything right and they start hating themselves, and mistreating their body because, at this point they feel that is the only thing they have control over. And yes, teenagers do die of this as they aren't capable of treating their wounds. Also, there is an increased risk of suicides on a person who self harms, self harm is found in 40% to 60% of suicide cases.

Although teenagers resort to things that hurt themselves, they only want to be heard out and want people to understand them. Because teenagers are the most misunderstood people, they are treated like kids, but are expected to act like adults. It’s not just girls (women) suffering from this tons of boy (men) do unheard or overheard by the loud speaking macho men. And very ones have their problems.

And most often times when consulted with an adult, they think that teenagers' lives are easy and they don't have any real problems, but that's what makes us feel like no one understands them even more! Honestly, teenagers just want to be heard out. To help teenagers being heard and understood several websites have been created for this purpose like http://www.7cupsoftea.com and https://www.imalive.org/, Also, there is a lifeline 1–800–273–8255, for teenagers who want to, tell people what they are going through and just have someone listen for once.

Though everyone wants to be heard out and understood, it's easier for some people than others. Some people don’t like pointing out all the flaws in their lives to people, they rather do it to a close family member or friend, but often times they are misunderstood and many teenagers go through this struggle in silence. And most times this struggle leads to suicidal thoughts and sometimes you completely lose. Often people have just had enough of being compared and being bullied, they block everything out forever.



*Fake name

Bullying Should Become A Major Concern To Kids and Should Stop

What has made school a living dungeon to some kids? Why have some kids come home, anxious about the next day? An anonymous source expresses his feelings to a reporter and says, “I feel depressed when people call me names, I don’t feel as if I should go to school the next day after I get teased.” Another victim of the issue says, “I try to ignore it as best as I can, I feel so defenceless that I have to make fun of myself when other people make fun of me.” These victims have had issues with being a victim of bullying and aren’t the only victims in the world that are being bullied.

Picture this, a dark night at Katong Park. This wasn’t the right time and environment for a fight to start. However, the wind and the silence was broken when a friendly kids soccer game turned into a living horror. Two teams were going against each other, one of the teams were called Homies FC and the opponent was BSFC. The team captain of Homies FC was found scrambling with bruises on his head after a fight with the opposing team members. A witness of the fight says that the team captain of Homies FC was found scratching a teammate on the opposite team. It was after a violent argument of teasing and cursing that the argument led to dripping blood from the opposing teammates lip. The dripping blood from the opposing teammate led the older brother to vigorously smack the team captain of Homies FC. The hard smacks to the head and a blow to the stomach left massive bruisings, it was only when the brother was out of breath that the whole team of BSFC made a run for it. The wet ground and the dark clouds watching over the fighting victims only made the afternoon more horrifying. With an unpleasant environment, the night couldn’t have gotten any worse.

Victims of bullying have said that they would sometimes come home and start crying in their rooms, just like how a boy named August would always end up crying about how he is always teased at school about his demented face. Bullies and victims of bullying usually have trouble focusing on their school work as the bully usually feels as if he or she are too cool for school. According to ABC news, either 30% of students are bullies or victims of bullying. There are an estimated 4,400 deaths per year due to suicides, among every suicide of young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts due to bullying. Kids who are bullied can experience negative physical, school, and mental health issues.

Kids who are usually bullied are more likely to experience things such as depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns. They will even have a loss of interest in hobbies they used to enjoy, these issue most likely to follow up into the child’s adulthood. They will even have health complaints. An organisation known as “Stop Bullying.gov” says that bullied children are most likely to have decreased academic achievement-GPA and standardized test scores-and school participation. They are most likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school. According to the website against bullying, they say that bullied children may use violent actions. In 12 or 15 school shooting cases in 1990, the shooters have had a history of being bullied. This is just like how Roy, a boy who cares about a group of owls in a construction sight is bullied by a boy named, Dana Matherson. As Roy and Dana have been fighting since the start of the school, it only ended until Roy took action by punching Dana in the face on a school bus, this breaking Dana’s nose.

Bullies and bystanders are also affected. Bullies are most likely to engage in early sexual activity or be abusive toward their romantic partner, spouses or children as adults. Bystanders are also affected as there will usually be an increase use of tobacco, alcohol or other drugs, increased mental health or may miss or skip school.

Bullying affects almost everyone involved, these clear reasons are why bullying is an issue to be concerned over. With people like August, a kid with a demented face who are treated as outsiders, we all have a reason to be concerned over bullying. Treated as an outsider, he was always dealing with bullies and popular kids. He would always be called names like “Ogre” or the “Hobbit”. Only lucky to have his friends to defend him like how they defended him at an environmental camp, without them, he would be toast. With a negative or violent output towards the result of everyone involved in the bullying activity, it is crystal clear reason why bullying has no benefit and there isn’t any reason why bullying can literally burn someone from the inside forever. Some people get bullied everyday, for racial color to facial disorders.

Bullying happens on an everyday notice, it even happens to the major characters of books, like Katniss and how she has to deal with the bullying of the capital, or how August has to deal with the bullying of people at his school. Bullying is a detrimental reason why kids are afraid and scared everyday, and for that reason, bullying has to stop, no matter how easing it is to do it or no matter what reason it is for bullying the victim. Bullying is like cancer, destroying the soles and heart of everyone involved.