Bullying and Cyber Bullying

Bullying and Cyber Bullying are major issues in the world today, particularly in young people who are either in middle school or high school. Bullying happens at others stages in life, but it seems to be between ages 12 and 17 that kids have the worst problems with being bullied. It is truly tragic what happens to kids who are targeted by bullies. The definition of bullying is "unwanted words or physical actions that can make a person feel bad; includes physical violence, spreading rumors, social exclusion or isolation, manipulation, teasing, and threats." These terms only hint at the terrible actions of a bully and the impact they have on their victims. Teens who are bullied have to deal with misery nearly every day they are at school. They are harassed both at school and at home through their cellular phones and computers. Not enough parents are aware of what is going on and so the child will likely become depressed and try to harm themselves in order to escape their abuse. So many are going to extremes; they see that there is no way to escape their harassment and commit suicide. This is becoming an epidemic. Teens in both the United States and Canada have committed suicide as a direct result of being bullied or cyber bullied.

Schools have tried to make rules and certain states have made laws which try to help the bullying issue but so far it does not look to be making much progress in solving the problem. It seems to me that the only way this problem is going to get better is through more direct involvement by parents. Teens need to be able to tell their parents or teachers about what is going on. All too often the suicide of a child comes as a complete shock because the parent had no idea what was going on in their son or daughter's life. This is the same for the parents of bullies as well. Parents have no idea what their children are up to and when they are told about it by teachers, other students, or members of the school administration, they tend to ignore the warnings. They blame the teachers or the other students and declare that their own child is not capable of the things of which they are being accused. I have seen these kinds of parents and they are unwilling to accept that their child is a threat to anyone else, which only makes the problem worse.

When I was in middle school, I had a bully and that person made school miserable for me. I would hope against hope not to encounter my bully in the halls because I knew that they would say or do something to harm me. As bad as this was, it was nothing compared to the torture inflicted on kids today by their bullies. In my case, when I went home for the day I was free. My bully could not get at me while I was in my home. Modern bullies can reach their target every day at all hours of the day. There is no escape, no respite from the bully and it is no wonder that some kids become so depressed because of the constant harassment that they see only one way out. In recent news, there was a case of a Canadian girl who was 19 when she killed herself. Two years ago she had been raped and her attacker photographed the event and posted the pictures online. No charges were made because authorities claimed there was not enough evidence that the sexual encounter was actually a rape. For two years, students from her community harassed the girl online, through her phone, in the school. She even transferred schools and her family moved, but she was still harassed. One day she hung herself, unable to deal with it anymore.