It blew up in the matter of two hours. Everyone had downloaded Yik Yak on their phones or other devices. People just waited to see who the next post would be directed towards. With every post came a new victim, sometimes more than one victim; sometimes, even directed at a race of people. Even teachers were mentioned in these posts. I sat there in class continuously refreshing the Yik Yak feed. I couldn’t believe the things that I was reading. How could a person say such terrible things about another person? Yik Yak is entirely anonymous. The only people  identified were the ones being bullied; thankfully I wasn’t the one the comments were being directed towards. I got home from school that day and kept checking my phone to see if the bullying would continue. It did.

The next day the school had blocked Yik Yak, but by that time it was already too late and people’s feelings had already been hurt. The school was dysfunctional and depressed. The bullys weren’t concerned with the damage they had caused. Perhaps they were only concerned with the consequences they might face if they were caught. That day I was not proud to be a student.

The very next day when I walked into school, I was faced with a pleasant surprise. On every locker in the school there was a sticky note. Each sticky note had a personal message to whomever’s locker it was on.

“You’re beautiful!”
“You’re one of a kind!”
“Make today a great one!”

There are over 1,000 lockers, and not one locker was without an uplifting message. Even though it was only a small act of kindness, I think it helped people realize that there were others out there who cared. My school has kept up this “sticky note” tradition. On Valentine’s day, they left small Valentines notes on everyone’s lockers. These Valentines notes had eye rolling abilities, but the thought that a small group of students took the time to cut out the notes and put them on every locker was meaningful. The people who did this are completely anonymous and get no recognition, so I think it’s time that they get the thank you that they deserve.