There is an auditorium for high school teens and their drama, but most of that spirit seems to slip out the doors into the school hallways. You walk by a girl and she’s passing on the newest rumor about one of her classmates. It slides off everyone’s tongues like it’s everyday conversation. You walk a little more and you see a couple of guys towering over a smaller kid in a corner, roughing him up. For what?
Whether it’s middle school or kindergarten, there is bullying at all levels. As if school isn’t hard enough. The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center says that 30% of kids have bullied someone at least once, have been a victim of bullying, or have been through both. These kids could really get a better hobby.
Rumors fly from locker to locker like a disease. People pick on others not because they’re jealous of anyone, but pretty much the complete opposite. The attacker’s self esteem is probably high, and seeing someone that they think is vulnerable is a great way for them to make them feel even better about themselves. But really? You know, there are consequences to everything. Even if picking on someone might make you feel better now, someone has to suffer from you’re cruel jokes.
One of the highest prices to pay is someone’s life which is popularly known as ‘bullycide.’ This horrific end is when someone is so sick of being picked and bullied on that they commit suicide. Bullying Awareness and Prevention Center estimated that 28 teens kill themselves every week, which is four teenagers dead per day, in the US. Read that again. Even kids at the age of eight use suicide to escape the pain. Think about it; kids in elementary school are taking their lives because other people think it’d be amusing to use someone else to add some spice to their lives.
Desire Dreyer was a typical high school girl who was new to Glen Este High School in Amelia, Ohio. She slowly adjusted to her new environment when she started to meet people, like her boyfriend on the varsity football team. Dreyer had made the cheerleading squad and was a kind, attractive girl, but on January 18, 2006, she decided to take her own life to escape the group of girls that pestered her. Dreyer’s extreme case of bullycide shows just how far people push the limits for their own amusement.
Where exactly are the parents in all this though? In some cases, the victim of the bullies will act as if nothing were wrong. In other instances, the peers don’t know the extent of the harassment. In Dreyer’s case, her mother said that the school told her that they would take care of the group bullies. Her mother also says that she did not know that the extreme bullying was the case of her daughters depression and drastic grade drop. Most parents say they regret not helping their child more when they needed them.
Being picked on and dealing with it is a challenge itself, but what if there were more challenges and tests added to that pressure? Teenagers are confused by everything and with hormones that are going crazy, it makes being a teen hard enough.
So, to all of you that are judging that kid with serious acne problems or laughing at the boy who’s a little different than you, being a child or teen is hard as it is, don’t make it worse. Try to give people a chance before you know them. Teachers can pay more attention to how teens react with others and how they do in class. Little things that we might not find so serious can have a major impact. One little question that we hear at least once a day just might help someone feel a little better, and that is, “How are you?”
Emily Bueche can be reached for comments at [email protected]