The Problem of Bullying and The Need to Prevent It

Bullying is becoming more and more of an issue each day and is not only a problem in schools around the world, but is an epidemic in almost every area of society. Bullying affects not only the person who is being bullied to, but the bully themself who is committing the awful act. There is not an exact solution established to reverse bullying or fix it completely, but there are many ideas that are put in place to identify it, help treat it, and make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. We as a society can also do many things to help this important and concerning matter from coming to fruition.

I know from experience that being the target of a bully is one of the worst feelings in the entire world. Bullying can cause psychological, emotional, and physical trauma to the victim as well as in some terrible cases, outcomes like suicide, PTSD, and other mental illnesses. In a recent study, more than one out of four students reported being bullied at school (Dr. Deborah Temkin). Personally, I understand the first-hand feeling and experience of being a victim of bullying. Bullying affected me so much that I had to switch high schools and transfer to a new school my sophomore year. It left me feeling worthless, broken, and very alone. In many instances people are bullied for their race, sexuality, disabilities, or most of the time the bully feels no self-worth, acceptance, or love, and will do whatever it takes to tear down their target for the feeling of control or power. (Liam Hackett). I was bullied by many people at my previous high school for many reasons including for my love of learning and school. Because of that, I thought that I should not love to learn anymore, and maybe I would be accepted by the people that were bulling me. People should not have to feel that way, and should be able to love what or who ever they want, and not get criticized and tormented for it.

When I was bullied my freshman year of high school, I would always question myself on why the bullies did what they did. I have grown up surrounded by the most loving and supportive people I know, and it just did not make any sense to me why those people wanted to mentally and physically hurt me so bad. So why do bullies bully? There are endless reasons why an individual decided to bully someone, but many times it is because of the person’s home life, social acceptance, self-worth and esteem, and mental illnesses to name a few (Rachael Rettner). Families that are not open about feelings and emotions with each other. or are not in a loving and warm environment might have children that are more likely to bully for the need for any outside acceptance, and also to feel a sense of self-worth and value (McKayla Arnold). Parents and guardians also play a huge role in the answer to why a person may turn to bully seeing as if strong family structure and love are absent from the person’s life they will seek other ways to get it. The person might have also been a victim of bullying and wants to retaliate and “pass it on” by making someone else feel as bad as them. Unfortunately, in one of my many experiences of bullying at my former high school many girls would treat me one way in front of a crowd of so called “popular girls”, and then treat me a totally different “normal” way without the presence of those other girls. This was single most to show those girls that they were “cool” and to gain fake points on a so called popularity and social scale. This contributes to the reasoning of bullying seeing as more social recognition is given for negative behaviors than for positive ones.

Although there is not a forever solution for bullying, there are many things that are being put in place to help prevent it and punish those who have done it. There are also many things we as people can do to help put an end to bullying in our society. All of the states in America address bullying a different way, but are all in one way or another taking action to prevent it and protect children as well as anyone else who is being bullied. Some states, like Michigan, have established polices, laws, and regulations to combat it, while others have developed polices in schools and other educational institutions in the state to respond to it when the bullying occurs. As people, there are many simple acts that we can do whenever we see bullying take place to stop it from happening and prevent it in the future. More recognition and awareness of said behavior can only better us as a whole. The free app for teens and young adults in Michigan, “OK2SAY”, gives anyone who witnesses bullying take place or who is being bullied the opportunity to submit anonymous tips to school faculty and/or local authorities for guided help. Bullying prevention should start at a young age with helping children understand what bullying is, how to identify it, understand that it is unacceptable, and also how to stand up to it in a safe way.

In conclusion, both the bully and the victim are affected when bullying takes place, and there are things we can do in our communities to help put a stop to bullying in the moment, and in the future. Bullying is something that happens anywhere and everywhere you go and affects kids, teenagers, and even adults. It takes place verbally, physically, socially, emotionally, as well as in many other ways, and is not something to be taken lightly. Every seven minutes a child is bullied by another person on a playground, and 85% of the time no adult intervention occurs . We as a society need more people to take bullying into consideration on how it needs to be emphasized in schools around the world and in any other areas regarding it. At the end of the day, we all deserve to be treated with kindness, respect, and lift one another up.