Anti-Bullying

In this rude and crude world we find a glimmer of hope in few places. Best of examples being at my old high school Cherry Creek. A self centered, egotistical, breeding ground for high standards and judgmental children. Where self interest ranks of the utmost importance for each individual, rather than the collective mental health of the student body as a whole.

One area that has made leaps and bounds in the fight against anti-bullying the Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign. This aims at ending the derogatory usage of the R-word in an attempt to help intellectually handicapped students feel more integrated with their peers. The passion that comes with the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign is one that should be followed suit with regards to every student that is facing bullying. I’m talking about the theater kids, or the English and math "nerds." There need to be people standing up for them too. We wouldn't have music or movies without the theater kids and we wouldn't have poetry, novels, or answers to things about money, or science, etc. without the people who enjoy a subject taught in school and we make fun of for being "nerds." Some justify being bullied by saying "it's ok, they're going to work for me one day," when really we should try harder all together to promote anti-bullying.

Even I, in the past, have been outwardly rude to people who absolutely don't deserve it which is why now I am trying to fix things. We learn about anti bullying at an extremely young age to not bully the fat kid or the poor kid when really it has an impact on the people all around us. The rich white girl gets bullied for wearing the week old out of style shoes. The new kid in town gets bullied because he hasn't made any friends at school yet. The black kid gets bullied solely for the color of his skin. The blonde gets bullied and called dumb for having her own thought. The disabled kid gets bullied for a condition they have no control over. The Christian kid gets bullied for believing in something. The middle schooler gets bullied because his pants are too short. The skinny girl gets bullied even though social media and our culture tells us to be her size. It's inevitable, regardless of the type of person you are, and we need to take a stand. It's as simple as the age old quote "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all."

There are endless examples of children who have committed suicide or sought revenge in a school shooting. Or even less extreme examples like formed an eating disorder or cut themselves, just because too many people have said the last straw that broke the camels back.

Like I said, Spread the Word to End the Word is a perfect place to start the anti bullying trend. We've made a remarkable impact on how we view these kids and how we treat them and that's the only part that should be considered special. But gender, race, disability, religion, opinion, etc. we need to focus on promoting unity and stop bullying. The underlying issue at hand here is that we lack sympathy and often disregard the fact that every person is going through their own battles internally, and don’t need the external pressure from others to feel anymore inferior than they already do.