Have you ever heard the saying “Words can hurt?” Well, there isn’t a year that shows this saying is true. There are two ways an individual can get hurt, physically or mentally. Most of the time kids, teens, and adults get backstabbed by their own friends because they hear them talking bad about them. Most individuals get hurt because they get bullied. Individuals might be playing around when calling others names, but all victims get hurt. They all take things seriously especially if they’re different than the other people. In this case, I have never been called names, but I have witnessed people being called names, and I would not do anything to stop it. I have also read stories about people taking their lives because people constantly continue to make fun of them and call them offensive names.

Blue eyes, greasy white hair, white skin was my 7th grade teacher. He would not teach us anything, but just gives us problems, and we had to solve them by ourselves. He would not do anything to stop the entire name calling in our classroom. All he would do was sit around, and let the other kids do whatever they wanted. In the classroom, there was this unwanted kid in our classroom named Jose; more than half of the class disliked him. I of course did not mind because he was a generous and quiet person. Jose was a short, dark skinned, black hair, black eyed boy that would not get into any one's business. By the second or third week of school, half of the class was calling him names like squeaky, mouse, rat, cheese, and little girl. Every day the same people bothered him. He was called those names because of his voice that made him sound like a little girl. He would always try to fit in with the rest of the students, but there was always someone there to ruin his moment. He had very few friends because everyone had backstabbed him and started calling him those names as well. When everyone would call him all those names, he would smile or at times he would look at the floor and let people talk. I knew that he tried hiding his pain by smiling at the other kids in the classroom. At some point he tried to commit suicide, but I guess he was too afraid or changed his mind.

By the end of 7th grade, he couldn’t take it anymore and stood up to anyone that called him names. The moment I saw that, it made me proud to see how much he had grown and how he was able to stand up for himself. After that day no one dared to call him any names. Many still talked, but not in front of his face. I guess he realized that if he continued to let people get away with everything there would never be a stop to the entire name calling and all the bullying. For once and for all, the name calling stopped, and he forgave everyone. He also became friends with everyone in the classroom.

Joe was a kid that didn't get into anyone’s business and tried to get along with everyone. He was young boy that keep everything to himself. He never talked to anyone about what was going on in his life and in school. He was a boy that kept so many things inside him until one day he could take it anymore and showed it to the entire world.

He started getting bullied at a very young age, and he was called horrible names. The very first time he cut himself was in the first grade. He didn't tell anyone about the things that were happening to him until he posted the video on YouTube. That video was heartbreaking and touching. The good thing about it is that he had millions of supporters and the entire name calling stopped. The reason Joe was getting attacked was because he was gay. Joe thought about suicide many times but there was always a reason not to commit suicide. The reason was that he had 99.9 more reasons to be alive and not give his classmates the pleasure of him committing suicide.


Both stories had an impact on my life because it showed that by posting up a video online or standing up for yourself can stop eveything and wake up an individual from a bad dream they might be having.

Both stories show that words can hurt. Some of those words can make individuals think about suicide. Both of these stories impacted my life because it shows how everyone should be treated fairly and how no one should make fun of anyone. Calling people names is not a fun thing to do even if people are just playing around. People do take things to the heart so individuals should think before they speak.

I do believe that words can hurt.