There isn't many times where I can recall being bullied right out front. In today's society people tend to be bullied behind their backs. There are so many ways to bully without actually even saying it to that persons face. There are social networking sites online. These would include myspace, twitter, facebook, etc. Another way to bully without telling a person to their face would be to use you cell phone. This could be done through text or you can even call and leaving threatening or suggestive voicemails. There is a term for this type of bullying and its called cyber bullying, the sad part of it is that it's very common in my generation.
There are no times in my life where I can remember being bullied as bad as Jamie Nabozny was bullied during his middle school and high school careers. In fact, I don't recall ever being bullied that bad to the point where I didn't even want to go to school. I have been bullied though. This is not a time in my life that I prefer to remember but it has happened. A girl who is the same age as me and is in the same grade was a huge bully. Even to this day only I don't just let her push me around anymore I learned how to deal with it. This girl will always be in my memories because not only was she bullying me but also my best friend. It had gotten so bad that my friend had to take to the principal with the problem. It did not get that bad with me, however, because my mom knew the girl that was the bully and the girl knew my mom.
I think she bullied both of us because that's the only way she would get attention. That's the only logical way that I can see it. I know that she had a single mom supporting her and she is an only child. Since her mom was raising her by herself that means that she had to have a few more jobs than most parents to stay on top of the struggles of financial problems. This meant that the girl would be alone most of the time. I think this was brought to school and school is where she got the majority of her attention from. I know that some kids gain their attention in a negative way and some do it in a positive way. She was being a bully and this is how she got her attention. This all occurred in middle school. Again, it never got that bad to the point where I didn't even want to go to school.
The way it made me feel inside is frustrated and sad. I felt frustrated because I was never anything but nice to this girl and neither was my best friend. Yet she harassed us and harassed us. I was starting to take it out on my little sisters at home just because I was frustrated. I was also frustrated because I didn't want to tell my mom or dad because I don't like unnecessary drama or stress so why would I want to bring these childish games into their lives. I thought it was better just to deal with it on my own. I also felt sad because she didn't have to be doing this to us and be a mean person. I felt bad for her. I just wanted us all to get along.
There also comes a point in our lives when we have to stop and think if we've done the same to another person. The sad part is that most of us have. I know that I have maybe bullied someone before but it wasn't just outright how this girl was with me and my best friend. I bully in a sort of sly way people have to think twice to actually notice if I just insulted them or if it was just a clever joke. I don't like how I can be too sarcastic sometimes because I don't know how it affects the other person. For all I know they could laugh about it on the outside and in front of everyone but who am I to know that I just didn't give them yet another insecurity to worry about on the inside?
I have also seen people bully other people right before my eyes. It's a hard thing to watch but it happens more often than not. Mostly at school is where I see this bullying. When I'm out in public, maybe with some friends at the mall, we can walk into a store and automatically since were teenagers were thieves. I find this to be a form of bullying in itself. I don't think people should judge a person like this. It's understandable that people will have their first opinions but you shouldn't let that affect the way you react with that person. So, I see this type of bullying all the time because of my age and the way that society perceives my friends and me. In these situations though I respond by sort of acting above my age. It takes the bully by surprise and they gain just that much more respect for me because I didn't go down to their level. I like the feeling of gaining respect too. I don't like when I prove people right when they assumed that I would do something bad and then I do it. I think that if this would happen to a friend that I was with I'd tell them the same thing. To either walk away and let it go or to be the bigger person and be more respectful and be the bigger person. I would never want a friend to prove a bully right.
All in all I think bullying is a problem in our society especially with all the changes that we as a Nation are going through. There are problems with cyber bullying, bullying against gay people, and so much more that it is a growing problem. We can do things to help stop or help prevent it. For example, we can show educational movies in the classroom like the one I was shown, Bullied: A Teaching Tolerance Documentary. This really helped me to see the effects of bullying in schools. I think that we need to think of more effective ways to stop bullying, however.
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