Why you should think before you speak
It’s better to be with friends than to be alone.
Bullying… I know it’s a difficult subject for some people while others may not care as much, but we need to talk about it.
All throughout middle school and high school, you are judged. Whether it’s on your looks, personality, who you like, or what you do, it happens. It’s a sad, confusing, and scary place. Often times you feel pressured into doing things or liking things that you don’t typically like, or you wouldn’t typically do. You feel as though if you don’t do it or like it (whatever it might be), then you won’t have any friends, or you’ll be judged and bullied. Then if you do it, or you try to like it because everyone else is, you get people spreading rumors about you. The thing is, these individuals often times don’t understand the full story. They only hear half of it, or they take what they heard, twist and manipulate the information to what they like and kept the rest out.
Rumors spread like wildfire in schools. That’s no secret. The teachers can only do so much to stop it. After a while, it becomes labeled as teenage drama. Unfortunately, it’s probably never going to completely stop. You’ll always have those girls or guys that have that much of a boring life that they either have to lie or spread somebody else’s life all over school. Please, if this is happening to you, don’t remain quiet. Speak up! I can promise you are not the only one that is getting bullied. It’s sometimes hard to tell somebody that you are being mistreated, especially if you are shy, or you get told not to do so, but if you get the word out and tell someone you trust, then the hopefully the problem will go away. If it doesn’t, go to a higher authority.
I feel like in society many people don’t take bullying as seriously as they should because it happens everywhere: In workplaces, schools, and even homes. I understand that it can be difficult not to judge people at times. We do it without even thinking, but if we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, particularly a person who is getting bullied or left out everyday, we wouldn’t like it.
I know that this article won’t stop bullying completely, but it may give the people being bullied or the people seeing it happen a voice to speak up and do what is right. Like we’ve been taught since elementary school, if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. It won’t hurt you to remain silent, but I promise you, your words might hurt somebody else. You have to understand that just because something seems harmless to you, it doesn’t mean it’s harmless to others. My goal is to help as many people as I can because bullying is not a subject to take lightly.
