Take a Stand | Teen Ink

Take a Stand

November 14, 2014
By Katlyn_Andres BRONZE, Mauston, Wisconsin
Katlyn_Andres BRONZE, Mauston, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

 Did you know that 4,400 people commit suicide every year because of bullies? Nobody even knows about all the victims of bullying today. People get either verbally or physically abused everyday, and nobody even says anything. No one tries to stop their hurting. When everyone is in third and fourth grade, we are told how to deal with bullies. Teachers tell them to always report it, ignore it, and stand up for others. They also say that the bullies do it because people feel bad about themselves. What teachers don't tell them, is how it really feels. It feels like their whole world is crashing down. The bulldied have no where to turn, and are too afraid to say anything.


School Cliques don't help with bullying either. To be in the “popular group,” we need to have the right clothes, hair color, and also need to be “pretty” by someone's standards. Having a popular family also comes into play. Their parents have to be popular, their siblings, and even their cousins. Mostly, cousins don’t come into play, but if they do its a big deal. If you are not popular, nobody even cares about what happens in your life. Whether you are extremely rich, or so poor you have three pairs of jeans, it doesn't matter. The only thing they care about is how you look. In school cliques, the bullying is mostly fake or made up things about other people in the group, also known as rumors.


Rumors can spread faster than wildfire if you're in middle school. Or high school for that matter. Trusting one person with the littlest information, could change the way everybody in the entire school looks at you. Say I told my “best friend” that got a new boyfriend. Then she tries to find out who it is. While she is trying to figure out who I am dating, she asks other people about it, who I haven't told, and now they know. Then, words get twisted. People think they know who it is, and then tell other people, until most of the school knows. It can make somebody's life a misery. People start to come with names for them, depending on the rumor, and you “friends” you thought you had, suddenly don't talk to you.


  Some kids of the Gordon Olson Middle have said that its ridiculous and there is no need for the bullying. One kid in particular (Kasi Hall) said: "It’s ridiculous how many people are bullied, and how many of the kids around watching, don't do a thing about it.”  Many people, including me, agree with Kasi’s opinion. I agree with her because according to ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because they are afraid to be bullied. That number is way too high, and it needs to change. There shouldn't be 160,000 kids saying to their parents, that they don't want to go to school because they are afraid.


Bullying is one of the many problems that needs to be changed in the world, and this is the generation to do it. This generation has enough good people in it that it can stop all bullying. All the problems that have to do with bullying need to stop. Bullying has caused way too many suicides, and to who people who deserve to live in this world. Those people deserve to live in this world, and bullies are holding them back from doing great things.
The bullying won't stop if nobody steps in. If people do decide to step in, it will make a difference in the bullies victim’s everyday life. It makes them feel safe when they know that is no one is going to be harassing them that day. Instead of living in the silence of not speaking up for the bullied, break it, and change someones life.
Fixing this problem would be a step up in the world. We all can step and help to change it, tell people who you trust, and who can help, and who will stop it. We can also stop it by really cracking down on it. Cracking down on it means that whenever you see it, tell the person doing to stop it, and not be afraid of the consequences.
So, if you notice someone is going through a rough time with bullying, stop and talk to them. You might just save a life. 



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