Topic: Bullying
Citations included.
Social networks are becoming more
popular among kids nowadays. Some of them are using them for the wrong purposes
though; as they are hurting other people’s feelings. Putting others down and
pointing out their faults makes these kids feel somehow better about
themselves. Bullying is anything that hurts another person’s feelings, makes
them feel uncomfortable, or offends them. It could be verbal or physical. It is
one of the most common causes of depression in our society. Victims of bullying
tend to have lower self-esteem and could become aggressive in some cases.
Bullying has changed many people’s lives, and people need to be more
understanding to what others are going through.
To begin with, bullying scars its
victims for life and these scars never heal or fade away. They have to live
with this experience for the rest of their lives remembering every word that
has been said to them and everything that has been done to them. Bullying takes
away people’s identities, they feel inferior to people around them, weak, and
insecure. It takes away their right of safety and security and gives them bad
memories. Mark Dombeck, PH.D. wrote an article explaining the long-term effects
of bullying, the feelings of its victims, and shared the stories of some people
including his own.[1] To add on, bullying is the most common reason of
depression amongst adolescents in our society. Depression causes suicidal
thoughts and lots of suicide attempts. According to the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research’s statistics, 47 percent of Canadian children are victims of
bullying. [2] Also, there has been a few suicide cases, and 78 percent of the
children who committed suicide were bullied at school and using social
networks. [3]
Furthermore, people cannot really
understand how it feels like to be a victim unless they were victims
themselves. Most schools hold anti-bullying campaigns and get student
volunteers to raise awareness about the effects of bullying between each other.
Raising awareness is the least they could do. It is not that effective anymore
nowadays though. In addition, there should be stricter rules about bullying and
more effective punishment methods for bullies. That would show the victims that
there is always someone there for them to protect them and keep bullies away
from them, punishments would make bullies stop at some point. Even if people do
not understand how it feels like to be a victim, they could at least appreciate
what others are going through by not making it worse and help them stand up for
themselves. Also, therapy is a great relief for victims of bullying or any
other reason for depression. In the book The Worst Thing She Ever Did, Sophie
is going through a trauma after her sister’s death. She decided to go to
therapy and feels so much better after. “I realized it’s okay that it’s going
to take me a long time to recover after what’s happened. It’s normal. “ [Kuipers]
“If you have nothing nice to say,
don’t say anything at all.” That is one thing everyone should know and carry
out in their lives. Most bullies get bullied at home, or got bullied at some
point in their lives; being mean to people makes them feel more powerful over
vulnerable persons. I strongly believe that people should have more
understanding of the long-term effects of bullying and more appreciation to the
strength that the victims have to deal with it every single day.
1 http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=13057
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