Bullying

Someone is getting bullied near you, what do you do?

(A) Tell the bully to stop.
(B) Turn away and talk to you friends.
(C) Stand there and pretend nothing is happening.

Ask yourself right now which would you choose. Well (A) is the right choice in all bullying situations.

You will never know how bad bullying is until you get bullied or see it happening. The first time you see bullying, you will probably just brush it off because you don’t want to get involved. Stop and think to yourself, that person needs help and you just walked away. That is the definition of a bystander. I admit I’ve done that before. My friend once told me her best friend was getting picked on by some girls. I ignored it because they were my friends and didn’t believe they would bully another person. I was wrong and now I’m trying to become a upstander.

Being in S.A.V.E. does not qualify you automatically as an upstander, you must act against bullying to become an upstander. You need to stand up for what’s right, bullying is not right! You are probably thinking how can I become an upstander If you go up to a bully and stop the bullying you just became an upstander.

I was a bystander and realized I needed to help the people who needed my help. Look at me now, I’m in S.A.V.E. and have finally became an upstander. And let me tell you, I’m not going back to being a simple bystander.

Bullying

I never realized until now that words could be so humiliating. A I am sitting in the corner in tears, I remember when I had good friends, ones that treated me nicely. But now, all they care about is themselves.

It has been two months since these girls have been treating me this way. I am constantly getting treated like the third wheel and that nobody cares about me. All I can ever dream of is the day where one of my ‘friends’ stick-up for me.

The words, “Al I can ever dream of is the day where one of my ‘friends’ stick up for me”, got millions of ideas flushing through my mind. I find it unbelievable that less than 20% of Americas try to help a victim that is getting bullied. This means that the bystanders sit here watching the victim not doing one thing to stop it.

Although being an up stander may be hard, we can do it. If I see bullying occurring around me, I will immediately get a group of friends that can confront the bully.

For example, a few fourth graders came up to me and my friend and told me that a girl was bullying them. I asked them what had happened and they told me, “She swore at me, called us names (fat) and she twisted up our shirts and lifted us up by it.”

I knew that we had to do something about it. We decided that we would confront the bully and tell the teacher. This didn’t help so we went to the principal and he talked to the bully. I can feel that things are better now. I am now very proud of myself or helping the fourth graders out of a sticky situation.

If you see a bullying situation, it is your job to help stop it. Tell a trusted adult, confront the bully, or make the victim feel comfortable. These simple things will get you feeling like superman if you have the courage to do it.

You may be thinking that being an upstander may be hard but as soon as you do it, you will begin to get a god feeling that you helped someone out. Put yourself in the victim’s shoes, I think that if all of us were getting bullied, we would love to have someone stick up for us. So, the next time you see a kid who needs a friend, be there for them, it will mean the world to them.

People talk about bullying, but you can be your own bully in some ways. You can be the person who is standing in the way of your success, and that was the case for me.