This will be the last part of the bullying blogs. I wrote these blogs not to harp on people about teasing others or to throw statistics in people's faces that I am sure have been on the news or in the paper or somewhere that is easily seen. My point is to possibly wake some people up to the reality of what impact you have on people's lives. We are going to college for some of the people reading this, and in college try and make a promise to yourself to be more open to people. Don't ridicule someone because they are different because you never know when that is their last straw, when they no longer can do life anymore. I once read a book called "Thirteen Reasons Why," by Jay Asher( I truly reccomend this by the way) and it was about a girl who had committed suicide but not before creating 13 tapes that were to be sent to every person on a list that had some impact on why she decided to commit suicide. It went through her story of how everything ended up linking together and causing one massive situation that she couldn't handle anymore. That book truly shows that you never know what someone is dealing with outside of the environment you see them in. You don't know what they deal with when they go home, or what they have to handle in other classes. We have so little time in some people's lives and do you really want that little time to be you bullying them or making them feel inferior to you for whatever reason?
What people chose to say to others does hurt, that saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me," Is wrong, it can hurt you. It is not okay to chose someone out of a crowd and make them feel alone or inferior, because chances are what you are making fun of them about they probably can't change. If you do anything in life at least try to remember that you may think its funny but that person probably doesn't and would you want to wake up in the morning and read in the paper about how someone YOU bullied died because something you said? Personally I woudn't want that on my conscience. I have my moments where I forget this very thing I am hoping people will learn to do, but I am getting better and I hope that someday it never happens because life could be so much simpler if people learned to accept others for who they are and not avoid them because of things they can't change.
So here is a blog I found about bullying, one story of millions that happen all the time..
http://bullyingstatistics.blogspot.com/
Here is a link where I found some of my statistics
http://www.pascack.k12.nj.us/70271919141818/lib/70271919141818/Bullying_Statistics.htm
and this is a link to a video about a bullying project movie or show that is coming out..
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/feature/2011/04/27/bully_project_movie_trailer/index.html
I hope that even if you chose not to go along with what I say that someone out there learned something and maybe was able to change a few lives in the process.
(Oh and sorry Mrs. Healey that this one is like 13 minutes after 12!)
I agree with you, Rachel. Bullying is terrible because it is demeaning people and emotionally scarring individuals. Words really do hurt people, not physically, but emotionally. Since we are becoming adults, it is important for us to remember lessons about respect and how harmful bullying can be.
ReplyDeleteI just watched (probably as you were writing this) "Easy A." It was a superficial treatment of reputation and high school social mores, and I enjoyed watching it. Emma Stone is very likable. But the more I thought about the movie, that madder I got: I think it was supposed to update "The Scarlet Letter," but instead, it highlighted all these desperate people, tortured in high school because they are different, who would do anything to be accepted, including trash the reputation of someone who did not deserve it. And because it is high school, she goes along with it!! It was politically correct: every type of different (gay, overweight, nerd, geek, international, etc). It seemed to me that there were more types of different than there were of "cool". And of course there was a nice neat solution that NEVER would have happened in a real high school.
ReplyDeleteWe have absolutely no idea as a culture what to do with the bully. Most of our bullying strategies focus on the victim instead of the bully, who is the one creating the problem--and probably is the one with the real problem.
I feel helpless as a teacher most of the time. I don't see it happen most of the time, but I sure see the results every day. good series, Evening Star.
I love the movie Easy A Emma Stone is so funny in that movie, but you are right it is very stereotypical highschool. That also reminds me of the Tv show they MTV had about "if you really knew me" and went into individual high schools and had a challenge day to try and get the students to realize that the cliques weren't good and that they could be themselves and find someone like them in that school they never thought they could. I thought that show was amazing and I hope they go around to many schools because it is definately needed in our society.
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