MAKING
A STAND
(AGAINST BULLYING)
(AGAINST BULLYING)
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A pamphlet made by
11-grader Raina Loreen Q. Ramos
for a
cybertistry/collage were said to be taken from
various anti-bullying
websites. Unfortunately,
the names of
the artists were not obtained.
So, if ever they recognized their
work
included in the pamphlet
cover,
please make a comment hereso that I could give courtesy.) |
Bullying is one horrible part of human
nature. Most people experienced an aspect of it in his or her lifetime.
A shy skinny male student became the
object of physical and emotional torture, by the bigger boys, and most
especially by the boys coming from rich families. He begins to experience the
feelings of tightness and phobia, of anxiety and nervousness, and of
insecurity, whenever it happened. His uncle’s friend, a Wing Tzun master,
taught him how to defend himself, yet the anxiety remained and lingered for
years.
During high school and college, he was
ready to defend himself whenever someone tried to bully him. He got hurt in more
than one occasion and almost broke the shoulder of one bully. Being trained in
martial arts is not enough assurance against bullying. Then he learned to
overcome his shyness and surround himself with friends. But even with lots of
friends, the act of bullying doesn’t stop. It got worse. At one time, it almost
ended into a rumble between two fraternities, one trying to bully him and the
other, coming to his aid.
How do you really face this menace,
especially now that it has become so prominent? The fact that the word “bullying”
now has its own specific meaning speaks frighteningly of how common it has
become. Boys and girls, and even adults, in many instances, gets bullied for
the slightest trivial reasons.
The statistics on bullying are
astounding: One in five kids has been bullied at school, and one of every four
kids that goes online has been bullied in social media. Bullying is never a
rite of passage, and it’s not an inevitability. Those that say “kids are just
being kids,” are indulgent idiots that promote the menace. Bullying is an
intense and complicated interaction that is about power, shame, and
humiliation, but it is preventable and there are things that we can do.
It has become an enormous task, covering
a whole host of different circumstances for bullying, from gender to weight and
appearance issues, to “disabilities” and racial discrimination. The social cancer
has spread that it needs both schools and communities to work together to mitigate
it, more to eradicate it.
The list of “bully magnets” is long:
children who has gender peculiarity, children who have unusual physical
appearances, who receive special education, who are poor, who practice a
minority religion, who have atypical family structures, etc.
Parents and educators need to formulate
an acceptable program to protect children from the negative impact of bullying
such as by creating a home environment that is self-affirming for children, by
promoting responsible use of technology, social media, by changing the cultural
attitude of aggression and cruelty, by correcting product marketing schemes
that causes disrespect, and by correctly responding to both bully and victim.
The tasks and responsibilities fall in
the hands of parents, schools, even toy retailers and clothing marketers, and
society at large. In short, in order to curtail the negative behaviors, we have
to nurture the acceptance of diversity, respect, and empathy from the very
beginning. To make a definite stand from the very beginning.
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| Hotlines where to call for help and report incidents of bullying. |
