There is one thing that is happening across the country day after day that needs to stop: bullying. Bullying so awful that makes someone want to end their own life. How did we let it get to that point? It should not be the new normal that we turn on the local or even national news and see children committing suicide because their classmates are bullying them. It needs to stop.
The definition of bullying "is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems."
It is happening way too often, but just recently a nine-year-old boy from West Virginia, Jackson Grubb, committed suicide after being bullied by a classmate. According to a local news station, the police department believes that he hung himself because he just couldn't handle the torment anymore.
Yes, you read that right. The little boy was only nine-years-old. Little boys that age should be worrying about which toy to play with, not ending their life because of bullying. Grubb's grandmother told the news that "they were bullying and they were picking on him. They were saying things to him. They were touching him. And that led my grandson to do the things that he did. Just speaking from my heart - I believe that he just couldn't take nothing no more. He had reached that point, but he didn't think, I don't believe, that it was going to go that way."
There have been so many incidents like this around the world, and this seriously needs to be a wake-up call.
We need to promote kindness, instead of reacting in anger. We need to show children from an early age that bullying is not okay. We have to teach them that differences should be celebrated and not be seen as weird or unnatural. We have to make them realize how their words and actions are extremely powerful, so they have to choose their moves carefully.
This change has to start with adults. We are the role models for children. We constantly have little eyes on us watching our every move. That means that we have to be very conscious about our words and our actions. If we promote kindness, kids will show kindness. If we react to things in a positive manner, kids will react to things in a positive manner. If we celebrate differences, kids will celebrate differences. If we are bullies to other adults, kids will be bullies to other kids.
I'm not saying this is always the case because there are special circumstances. Although, a majority of kids will mock their parents or any other adults that they are around because that is what they think is right and that is all that they know.
We have to stop bullying. So many children are dying, and it is seriously not okay. We have to make a change and hold ourselves accountable for what is going on. We have to make bullying stop.
