Bullying is like a poison. It’s toxic, it’s gross, it’s contagious, and it’s deadly. Bullying is deadly. Before you continue reading this article, I would like to caution you. This topic is a very sensitive one because it makes you think about how what you do could affect other people. It makes you think about how in someone else’s story, you could be the villain. Life is weird like that. My mom said it’s all about perspective, point of view. Not everyone shares the same point of view and that might be the worst thing, yet the very best thing about life. I’m getting ahead of myself though. First you need to know what bullying is.

 My definition of bullying is making someone feel bad about themselves for no real reason at all. Bullying is hating on a person because of how they look, how they talk, or even how they walk. The dictionary definition of bullying is “a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort.” But bullying can make people feel emotions stronger than just discomfort. Bullying has caused depression, anxiety, PTSD, anorexia, bulimia, suicidal thoughts and more. When I was told that we had to write an article about mental illness for mental health awareness month, I didn’t know which mental illness I wanted to focus on. So, I did my article on a source for many of them.

One of the biggest problems associated with bullying is suicide. Let me paint you a picture.

A girl, a little girl, has these kids that make fun of her. She isn’t the smallest and she’s tall. Whenever she walks down the hallway, people act like the ground is shaking, when all she wants to do is get to her class. That little girl gets bullied so bad that she has to go to another school. In her mind she says,

“This school will be different.”

She has this idea of all the friends she’s going to make, and she does, she makes friends. She’s happy, people still make fun of her but it’s not as bad as it used to be. She has friends so she asks her mom if she can download this app called Myspace since she finally has friends to connect with. Her mom is reluctant because social media is a dangerous place, but agrees because she’s just happy her daughter is finally fitting in, because God knows everyone wants to fit in. The girl gets a friend request from this boy; she’s so excited and she accepts. He calls her beautiful and tells her everything a girl wants to hear, and she’s happy that a boy finally likes her because remember, she was bullied by boys for years and wanted validation because she’s never had it. After a few weeks, the boy does a complete 180. He says that she’s a bad person and that she’s ugly and a bunch of awful things I can’t even repeat. Distraught, she tells her mom about it, she rants and her mom is heartbroken seeing this happen to her daughter. The mom wants to do something, but the girl says no. Later that day the girl was found dead in her room. She hung herself. The girl’s name was Megan Meir, and she passed away in eighth grade. That was someone’s daughter. That was someone’s friend. That was someone who just wanted to live without having people tear her down every time she entered a room. She was a child. Megan was someone’s everything and now she’s gone.

Megan isn’t the only one. There are thousands of stories like hers.

We are surrounded by murderers. People who found joy in killing others self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-love. People say awful things to other people all the time. Some people laugh it off and say, “I’m fine.” Others break down on sight. I guess my question is, why? Why do people tear others down? Is it just for the fun of it? Is it because they feel sick to their stomach when they look at their own reflection.

“You’re too skinny.”

Eating disorder

“Your teeth are crooked.”

That person never wants to smile again.

“The world would be better without you.”

That person never breathes again.

You don’t know how your words are going to affect someone. Some people take that stuff to heart. Words have so much power and a lot of people don’t understand. Today someone said that I was pretty, that happened a couple hours ago but I’m still thinking about it and smiling, but what about the opposite? What if someone called me ugly? I would still be thinking about it just like I’m thinking about the compliment. Words hold power. Words hold weight. Words hold love. Words hold pain.