Assignment #10 - Bullying

   

    Just because no physical harm has been done unto you does not mean you have not been bullied. Bullying can happen in many ways and often goes unnoticed. However, sometimes the bullying goes unnoticed because the bystanders do not want to see it. If you see someone being harassed and do nothing about it, you might as well have harassed that person yourself. You silence confirms your consent!

   One question this essay is supposed to answer is have I ever been bullied. The question did not limit me to a specific type of bullying so I will address this question with one answer and two examples. My answer, first off, is yes. I have experienced this both physically and emotionally. I remember one time in elementary school my moms son punched me in the face right in front of my teacher. My teacher pretended not to see this but I knew she did. I do not recall why he hit me but I do recollect that the teacher failing to acknowledge what she clearly saw, hurt more than being hit. Did she just not care or she just figured it was easier to literally look the other way? I will never know the answer to that question. Now the second example also contains physical and emotional bullying. This was after my moms son had moved back in with us for the final time. I was walking home with him and he was outraged that I did not cross the street with him! When we got home he shoved me against the wall by my throat. This did not hurt and I was not scared. What hurt was his remarks. One of which he retorted that I was a “worthless bitch”. What scared me was thinking of the possibility that that statement could be true. Now he moved out a few years later and I have not permitted myself to speak to him since he moved back to NY but it is not so much the physical actions of someone that you remember most. Words can cut just as deep. Did I do something to provoke this? Yes I did. I failed to cross the street. Was this reason enough to become outraged? No.

    In both events I felt torn. I felt like something inside of me broke. Was I really such an awful person? I like to think not but I know I have my flaws. I have seen people be bullied a number of times and, as you may have guessed, I was the silent bully. I did nothing. I am not content with the actions, or lack of actions rather, but I will not make that mistake again. The question I was asked is if I have ever bullied someone. My answer is yes. I didn’t harm this person in any physical manner but I did not act upon the bullying either. As I said before, if you see someone being harassed and do nothing about it, you might as well have bullied that person yourself.

    Bullying a person does not only affect a person physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Not only do you leave this person with contusions or lacerations, etc. you also leave them with questions. What did I do to deserve this? Am I a bad person? Do the bystanders not care? These types of questions are not easy to answer and come to terms with and they may cause the victims to think less of themselves. This is why there are so many suicides. If bullying were to reduce I believe teen suicide would as well. Even if bullying was just dealt with more, suicide would most likely be less probable.