Bullying has always been one of the biggest problems in our world today but is sometimes swept under the rug.
When in reality, it's much bigger than anyone would've thought possible.
According to stopbullying.gov, 28 percent of students in sixth through eighth grade have admitted to being bullied, as well as 20 percent from those in ninth through twelfth grade.
I decided to ask three people for their experience with bullying. Whether they have been the bully, saw someone bullied or were bullied themselves.
1.
"Whenever some people try to hurt my feelings in some form, they always comment on my body first because they know that's my biggest weakness/insecurity. For example, this year in my tech class the guy who sits in front of me was being obnoxious, and this senior next to me was calling him out for being annoying and over-dramatic. My friend who is on the other side and I were just kind of laughing at the boy across from me because he was being ridiculous and blowing it out of proportion. Soon after the argument ended, me and my friend were still giggly, as the situation was just completely stupid and funny and the boy was like, "why are y'all laughing and acting like little girls," and he turned to me and goes "my bad, I mean big girl." The worst part of it is after my friend confronted him about being disrespectful, he said, "I don't know, it's true." — Female (15)
2.
"In eighth grade, I had my first, legit crush on this kid, and he was my actual first crush. I had high hopes to go to homecoming with him my freshman year, and it was so fun, we had a lot of classes together. This would go on behind the scenes, but I didn't know why he stopped talking to me. One day in the hallway I was at my locker before homeroom, and he was at his, which was five lockers down, and one of the popular girls walked up to him and looks at him and goes, "Seriously? You like her?" And this group of guys who are also the popular guys came up, slammed my locker shut, and said, "you can only dream to be with him, he would never like you," and then started laughing. So I started crying and went to homeroom crying and the girl who had made fun of him for liking me came into homeroom trying to comfort me. It was embarrassing and very two-faced." — Female (18)
3.
"Over the years I have never witnessed online bullying in a way that has been characterized over the years by many, but instead I have seen more of rude remarks about someone's social media or appearance. As a male, I have seen bullying along both ends where there's a guy criticizing someone else, and in a way, can be seen as bullying. An example of this can be seen at my middle school. After football practice, players, including me, changed, showered and got ready for class. Over the course of a couple days throughout the season, a group of players got wet towels and whipped a certain player who was seen as "weird." This action resulted in yelling and even crying. No actions were ever taken to fix the situation." — Male (18)
Talking to several different people of different ages, different backgrounds and different roles in society about their experience with bullying opened my eyes to the fact that "bullying" takes form in unique shapes and sizes. Bullying has become so widespread and recurring that no one knows the difference between making fun of and joking.
70.6 percent of students admit to noticing bullying happening within their schools, and 70.4 percent of faculty and staff say the same.
Bullying is real and affects people in different ways. Bullying stops within 10 seconds 57 percent of the time when someone intervenes.
Be that person that jumps in to stop it. Be the one that makes the statistics go down.
Be the difference maker.
