March 29, 2024

Change our reality

Over 300,000 kids commit suicide a year due to bullying. Some people consider bullying or "teasing" part of childhood. Suicide should not be a part of childhood.

How many kids have to cry out for help for us to answer?

Berg Middle School is taking a stand. We are making campaigns, doing fundraisers and other projects to stop bullying. We have decided that it is time for a change. To change what happens when others aren’t looking. To change what happens to kids we all forget about. For the kids who need help, but won’t ask.  For the kids that need our help.

We want everyone to be more aware of the effects of bullying. Not what is happening now, but what could happen soon. We want them to know what it feels like to help somebody out. Not to tear them down. That is what childhood is about.

We are sick and tired of the abuse we have to take every single day. It happens to everyone, whether you admit it or not. There is always something that hurts you. Whatever it is, everyone has a weakness. Everyone has a part of them that is vulnerable. We want to protect those parts of people. Because those are usually the best parts of anyone.

Bullying builds a wall. A wall made of insults, insecurities, and hatred. A wall that has blocked the kid from reality. From people who care about them. They are so blinded by the hurt and stress bullying causes that they can’t see the people who love them who are hurting almost as much as they are because they want that person back. They want them in their reality. Everyone wants someone in their reality. Everyone needs someone.

Our school has taken a survey. It had questions that asked students about bullying. One question asked how often they had ever been bullied. The analysis told me that 59 percent of the kids who took the survey had been bullied more than twice a week. When I saw this I thought that it had to be a joke. That it couldn’t be possible. But, it was true.

Subconsciously I knew that. I think everyone does. At one point or another we all have to realize that and come to terms with it. We have, but we can’t accept that. We don’t want to see that even 1 percent, or one person, has ever been bullied at our school. We hope that we can help, even if no one takes us seriously. We take it seriously enough for everyone. We will make a change, with encouragement or not. We will try, we might fail the first time but we will come back again and again. Because that’s our reality.