There are many misconceptions about bullying, many of them revolving around the fact that it doesn't happen, or that it's natural for it to happen. Many parents think that it couldn't happen to their child when, in fact, it probably does happen to their child, and to other children in their school.
This past weekend I finished the Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why which inspired me to write about this topic. For those of you who haven't heard about the show or book, it's about a high school girl named Hannah who kills herself and records 13 reasons why she killed herself on cassette tapes and gives them to each person on the list. The people who are on the tapes are supposed to listen and give them to the next person on the list. The reasons for Hannah's death stem mainly from the bullying she went through during the first few days of attending her new school and stretch until the following year.
Obviously, I won't go into detail about the specifics of the reasons because I recommend that everyone watch the show or at least read the book. But watching this show and seeing the reactions of the students and the teachers at her school before and after her death made me think about how administrators at schools everywhere handle bullying and suicide.
In the show and the book, the school launched an "anti-bullying/suicide campaign" after Hannah's death. This campaign consisted of posters saying "suicide isn't the answer" and encouraging the students to seek help. When I was in high school my school actually did something similar and the school's response to accusations of bullying was: "if there's no proof of actual bullying there's nothing we can do" (friendly reminder, this happened in my freshman year of high school which was about 6 years ago so this may not be completely true, but that doesn't mean that there aren't places that also have this way of "solving" bullying).
One of the many problems with this solution is that many people are too afraid to speak out in fear of it getting worse or people judging them. In the show and the book, when Hannah goes and seeks help she is basically told that she needs to get over it. This is often what people fear will happen when they talk to someone to try to get help.
Bullying comes in many forms, cyber-bullying, verbal bullying, social bullying and physical bullying. There are many different articles, websites, social media posts, and other resources about bullying but none of them really talk about how to handle it. If you or someone you know is being bullied please help them. You can click here, here or here to find resources that will help.
If you see someone getting bullied please please step in and stand up for them, or find an adult to help. No one is going to hate you for it and you might save someone's life. The best thing you can do when someone you know is being bullied is be their friend. People often feel like they are alone in situations like this if you offer your friendship you can help them immensely and even get them the help they need.
Another thing you can do to help stop bullying is basically, don't be a jerk. It's easy to judge people and to be rude to people especially if your friends are doing the same thing, but this all needs to stop and if just one person a day stops saying terrible things about people they know or don't know bullying would stop and people would be happier overall.
The symptoms of bullying can be very hard to notice but if you pay attention you can often tell. The person will often stop talking to people, they will become uninterested in going to school or work, they will often become depressed, and sometimes they will even talk about suicide.
Just remember, being a friend can really change someone's life and saying terrible things about a person doesn't make you cool, it just makes you a bully.
