Bullying

Being older, it seems that one thing that has died down is bullying, but in hindsight, that really isn't the case.  All I have to do is turn on the TV, or read the newspaper, and there's a story about a child being bullied.  I suppose it wouldn't be that bad if the situation got resolved, but there's an old saying said about the media: "They only report what's negative", which is why you sparingly hear about happy things that happen in the media; they usually only talk about negative news, which is why whenever I hear about bullying, I know it's unfortunately tragic.

When it comes to bullying, it's a touchy subject for me because I was bullied a lot as a child from elementary to middle school.  I wasn't sure why, but I think it had to do with how I looked, my weight issues, or the far fetched idea that somebody liked me (I know, ridiculous).  I won't get into the details of it, but the bullying was so bad at one point that I had to get transferred from the class I was in just to get through school.  That worked for awhile, but in middle school, the same thing happened.  Even when I tried nice, or did what they wanted, nothing changed, and it scared me.  Worst of all, all of my bullies were girls believe it or not, so whenever I complained, sometimes teachers believed me, and other times they didn't. 

Now, I'm not hear to blame the school, or even the people who bullied me since that was a long time ago, but bullying is still something prevalent now.  You may not think it is because you aren't exposed to it, but it's happening at school's, and even online (which I think is worst).  Children are being picked on for no reason, and it unfortunately ends in suicide most of the time.  Suicide is a terrible thing, but it can be avoided if the person being bullied has someone to talk to, a parent, sibling, anybody.  I wish as a child, I spoke up more, but I didn't and still deal with the effects.  That doesn't have to happen now.  You can be there for someone in their time of need.  All you have to do is be there, or seek professional help when necessary.  It doesn't matter if you're the person being bullied, or the person helping.  You still matter, and you have a voice to make a difference.

In light of this subject, I found an episode of Arthur online that deals with this subject.  It's from season 16, so the animation is different, among other flaws, but I think this episode shows a good example of how bullying can affect a child's mind, while at the same showing how it can be fixed by talking about it, or taking responsibility.  Yes, I know Arthur is a children's show, but as they've shown with the cancer episode and fire one, they aren't afraid of tackling adult subjects.  And while bullying usually happens to kids, it's something that shouldn't be ignored.

(Couldn't get the video posted since the episode is so new, but here's the link.  Sorry you may have to paste it.  I'm still getting used to this blog)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou0t-3hk5eM