Picture yourself in high school. Did you ever sit at a table with a partner in class? Now imagine two of those tables side by side with two people at each table. According to the National Bullying Prevention Center, one in every four students (22%) report being bullied during the school year. That means, between the two tables, one of those students is currently being bullied.

Now, what is bullying? Bullying is an intentional behavior that harms or hurts someone either emotionally or physically. Bullying can happen at work, in school, or online. Bullying can range anywhere from physical and emotional harassment, rumors, discrimination, belittling of a person, and so on.

One thing that I noticed in high school were the cliques. Typically, you see the jocks, the cheerleaders, the academic students, and the artsy students. However, in this high school it seemed to come down to the last name, who was the most popular, who wore what, and even what elementary school you attended. But why do these people make a point to bully? Some people try to claim they do not understand the result of their behavior. However, that is a maturity issue.

There are many reasons students bully their peers. One reason could be that their are issues within the bully's home. They may be trying to take it out on someone else in order to cover up the fact that they are unhappy. Another reason is attention seeking. A bully spreads a rumor about a peer thinking that in doing so, they get someone's attention by sharing the rumor. Yet this means the peer is then targeted repeatedly. A third reason could be a lack of social skills in order to deal with their own jealousy of the peer. Some bully's may enjoy having the popularity in which they posses and feel that it gives them the power to harm or belittle someone who, in their eyes, does not stand at the same level as they do.

Now, why do other peers not step in? Shown by NBPC, more than half of the bullying situations stop when intervened by a peer on behalf of the student being bullied. If someone simply stepped in to stand up for a student being bullied, it could end that bullying situation. However, gossip is extremely common among students and a majority of the time a student will join in on the gossip, even if they know it is false information.

Here is what the bully does not see. The peer being bullied has a higher chance at falling into depression. This student starts to dread attending class an develops severe anxiety when faced with the situation. It has been proven that at lease half of the suicides among young people are related to bullying. There have been reports of students who have bullied other students to the point of suicide, and then the bullies were charged with murder. No one should be pushed to the point of suicide. However, that is what is seen among the young people in today's society.

To the victims of bullying that may be reading this, I want you to know something. Life goes on. If you are in high school and you are being bullied, stand up for yourself. Go to a teacher or maybe a principal and speak out. You can not let this bully get to you. No it will not be easy. But I can promise you one thing, you will come out on top. You will move on in life after high school and never see those cruel bullies again. You will move on to bigger and better things. When you prove that you are stronger than the bully, you will once again be happy.

How do I know all of this? Because I had to stay strong once. In my small Lutheran high school, I was bullied like any student at any school. I felt miserable. I hated going to school and seeing the people who wanted nothing more than to belittle me and make me hate myself just so they could get their own attention. However, I finally chose to stand up for myself. I never once bullied them back. I went to the principal and told him what was going on. I stayed strong because I was not going to let this bully take away my happiness.

To the victims: YOU MATTER. Your happiness belongs to you, no one else. This is your life, live it the way you want. Stay strong for yourself, your family, and your friends. Life will go on.

To the bullies: STOP. Whatever it may be, let it go. Do not harm someone to make yourself feel better. It will only make you look worse. It is time to grow up.

I am Angi Bergstedt, and I too was bullied. And I will continue to stand by and stand for the victims of bullying.