Blogpost#1: Mean Stinks

Bullying

Bullying

Have you ever wondered how it felt like to be bullied? Or do you just make fun of others, even if they didn't do anything wrong to you? Or you just mock someone you don't even know and you like it? Or you like seeing someone in pain because you made fun of them?

Well, I am not telling you guys to go bully someone. Personally, I have dealt with being bullied and bullying someone. There's a saying that goes like, "Do unto others what you want others to do unto you." Based on my personal experience, I used to bully back in 3rd grade, when I grew up I felt the pain that my victims felt when I bullied them. I guess it was karma telling me that I deserved it. Bullying, which I had to face for almost 6 years, can make you better and stronger, like I did. I showed my bullies that I will do something good with my life, instead of wasting my time doing something bad. Like I said, I used to bully, right? I remember that I bullied someone back in 3rd grade and my whole entire high school life, she and I were friends. You also have to forgive people who did wrong to you and you also have to ask for forgiveness, if you ever did something wrong to someone. 

According to one of the sites I found, which is www.stopbullying.gov, they define bullying as a unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves or perceived power imbalance.

There are a lot of people who bully others, and I think, the people who really have to face bullying are the African-Americans and some of them have different religions and for me, that is racist and fortunately, I read an article by Emily Dugan entitled "Racist bullying: Far-right agenda on immigration 'being taken into classrooms'",from the website,www.independent.co.uk. According to Emily Dugan, the number of children seeking help for racist bullying increased sharply last year, as a campaigners warn that the heated public debate about immigration is souring race relations in the classroom. Also that more than 1,400 children and young people contacted ChildLine for counselling about racist bullying in 2013, up 69 per cent on the previous 12 months.According to James Kingett, of the charity Show Racism The Red Card (SRTRC) which seeks to combat racism, said: "We work with around 50,000 young people every year and issue around Islamphobia have been very prevalent over the past 12 to 18 months. That the idea of Muslims are terrorists or bombers is a particular problem. We're getting that from kids with no Muslim classmates through to those in diverse schools with many Muslims." 

It all starts with teasing someone, then it continues with someone laughing at their victim because the victim is getting annoyed and he or she is already irritated. It leads the victims to do something bad to themselves, in some cases, the victims self-harm, get depressed, starve themselves and so much more. I grew up with my family making fun of foreigners, usually when you grow up with someone making fun of someone you also do it when you grow up, but experiencing that growing up, I knew I was going to stand up for what I believed was right. Now, in my own words, Racism happens to everyone, but it makes someone more insecure about themselves when they are trying to make themselves happy. 

There's a singer named Ciara and she speaks out against Blog and Internet Haters and there's an article related to this and it was written by Barock O'Drama and according to her that Ciara is sick and tired of blogs and social media, and the fact that they are both sometimes used as platforms for "hate." Ciara said in her blog "It's now almost impossible to protect your kids from the vile things people say on blog sites today, and it's even worse when kids hear hurtful things about themselves, their parents or other family members. In some cases, kids have even resorted to suicide due to 'cyber-bullying' Words are powerful. You could say the wrong thing about someone, famous or not, on the wrong day and that could cost them their life because they're at a weak point" I totally agree with her because when I was being bullied, all I felt was that I wanted to just stop going to school and not face my bullies, at that point, I was very vulnerable. I knew that one day I'd have to face it and to just move on, somehow I did.

Bullying is a serious issue, it isn't a once in a life time thing. It is going to haunt you for the rest of your life, like it did with me. There are somethings that I will regret doing because it lead to me being the victim, but I don't regret becoming the person I am today. I was bullied for a reason, my experience on bullying, all these articles I've read and the future articles that I will be reading will make me understand the true meaning of bullying.

There are so many people taking their lives or attempts to do so and there is an article I found which was written by Evann Gastaldo and the title of her article is "Boy, 11, attempts suicide over My Little Pony Bullying" according to the article found in www.newser.com, it says that "an 11-year-old boy from Raleigh, North Carolina attempted suicide did so after he was bullied over his affection for the My Little Pony cartoon. Michael Morones is "the kid that never walks. He dances everywhere," his mom tells ABC 11. But on the evening of Jan.23, overcome with the teasing, "he hung himself off the side of the bunk bed, off the railing," she says. His parents rushed him to the hospital, but because oxygen to his brain was cut off, he may suffer life-long brain damage. Chicago Now reports his brain, heart, and lungs were damaged. 

An article written by Katherine Sellgren for the BBC News entitled "Cyberbullying 'on rise'" from www.bbc.co.uk and according to the article that the charity ChildLine saw 4,507 cases of cyberbullying on 2012-13 up from 2,410 in 2011-12. The charity also saw a rise in concerns about self-harming, while depression and difficult family relationships were the top reasons for seeking help. It also says in the article that for the first time in the charity;s 28-year history, more counselling took place online(59%) than by the telephone(41%).

I saw in an article written by Amy C. Rippel, her article is entitled "Retired baseball star Johnny Damon fights bullying with Lake Sherriff's Office" and I found it on a website called articles.orlandosentinel.com and according to the article that a retired baseball player named Johnny Damon who last played for the Tampa Bay Rays and when he doesn't play baseball he makes sure that he goes for helping put a stop to bullying in Lake County schools. Now that he is retired, he is part of the Lake County Sheriff's Office campaign aimed at bringing more attention to bullying and stopping this growing trend across the nation. And he says "Unfortunately, the bullying situation is getting out of hand and I have 6 kids, so I don't want to see that going on with any of my kids." 

There are 3 types of bullying: Physical Bullying, Verbal Bullying and Cyber-Bullying. Based on my experience, I have dealt with Verbal and Cyber-Bullying the most because coming from an all-girls school, my batchmates made sure that there was no evidence or some sort that won't be filed against them, so they chose to verbally bully me, I faced so much bullies over the internet. My friends noticed that I wasn't eating properly, I was sad, I was quiet, which was something my friends and classmates weren't used to. 

An article written by Kate Hogan,who interviewed Demi Lovato, titled "Demi Lovato is Ambassador for New Anti-bullying Campaign" which can be found in www.people.com  and Demi said "I had a really tough time in middle school. People would write 'hate petitions' about me. They'd have CD-bashing parties of my demos. They'd come to my house, stand across the street and yell things. It was a very emotional time for me, and all I wanted to do was get away." 

Bullying can cause so much a person and it is something that everyone faces, even the bullies themselves. I have dealt with bullying the hard way and I have manage to get out the harshness of it, but sadly, I had to face them still during college, even if I knew I wouldn't get out of the bullying world, but there are ways to un-target yourself from being bullied. I will say this in my own words because I have personally encountered bullying myself. Now, make sure to ask your closest friends if they have any problems with you because there is always room for anyone to change. Usually these types of things can lead friends to bully you behind your back, and when you find out, you get sad and it can cause depression, it make you do bad things to yourself. Personally, I have dealt with self-harm and it isn't the best solution to deal with bullying or possibly anything. 

Live a happy life with bullies who make you in a better and stronger person.