Imagine this, you’re 13 years old and you’re lonely with no friends. It seems like nothing will ever get better. Suddenly, someone that you’ve had a crush on for months talks to you. You guys begin to get closer and when life seems so much better, your crush tells you in front of everyone that is was all a big joke. Did you really think that they would ever like someone like you? You’re heartbroken. This can’t get any worse. Until someone writes you a letter telling you that you just should kill yourself. You begin to think that’s not such a bad idea. They must be right, you’re worthless. You pull together the courage and you do it. Bullying was the cause of a teen ending his life before it had ever really begun.

This happens way more than we would like to think.1 in 4 youth are affected by bullying. Bullying can appear in various locations but just because it has become so commonplace doesn’t mean that it is not a tragedy or that it doesn’t need to be diminished. 160,000 kids per day do not attend school for fear of being bullied. Those numbers sound like an epidemic to me yet we ignore it. Kids will be kids, they’ll grow out of it, they’ll learn. These excuses are costing kids their lives. They are allowing us to ignore the problem and pretend like it isn’t getting worse. We have all heard the phrase sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I think we can all agree that that phrase sucks. It’s simply not true.

Words do hurt people. What you say and what you do matters and can affect a person in ways that you can’t even imagine.Some people that are bullied believe that suicide is the only answer to their problem. 20% of high school students say they have seriously considered suicide within the last 12 months. The cause? Bullying. 70.6% of children report that they have seen bullying in their schools. According to the American Society for the Positive Care of Children, 30% of young people admit to doing the bullying themselves. And this isn’t just happening to kids. There are various reports of bullying in the workplace as well. This is a vicious cycle. These bullies grow up but do not learn that bullying is wrong. They are learning that they often get what they want from bullying: power. They grow up and use bullying as a tactic in their career and their future relationships. Bullying most likely touched you in some way in your school career, whether you were the bully, the bullied, or even the bystander.

When you graduated you might have thought finally everyone has grown out of it and we can start being adults. You were thinking that you’re in college now, this doesn’t affect me anymore. That isn’t true. Bullying could show up in your future job. It could affect your future child. You could lose your child because another kid doesn’t know how his words or actions affect others. A parent’s worst nightmare is losing their child. The idea that your child played a role in another child’s death is probably a close second. If children learned the harsh truths of bullying and how it can affect someone, these terrifying outcomes might not happen as often.

People might say “We don’t have a bullying problem here, our kids are just fine.” Sit these people down and tell them to ask their kids and kids from surrounding schools have you seen someone be bullied, have you yourself been bullied, or have you bullied someone? They will see the problem when almost 100% of the kids that they ask answer yes to at least 1 of those questions.Violence is everywhere. We live in a very dangerous world and we will probably never have a world where we are completely safe. But shouldn’t the places that we spend the most time: schools and the workplace, give us some form of security?

We shouldn’t have to fear going to school or work. We can stop this. We can ensure that more people learn about bullying. We can tell our friends and family that it's serious. When you have kids, teach them about bullying. Stop ignoring the problem. If you see bullying, tell someone. If you experience bullying, ask for help and know that you are not alone. And if you have bullied, know that all you have to do is stop hurting others. You can change if you want to. You can help in the fight against bullying whether you are the bully, the bullied, or the bystander.

Face this problem head on and we can start diminishing it together.