Ryan Frechette

Rm. 108 Mrs. Ruhl

8 Yellow
Bullying: Part of Growing Up,
Or A Growing Problem?

The Region 16 Board of Education defines bullying as any overt acts by a student

or groups of students directed against another student with the intention to ridicule,

harass, humiliate, or intimidate the other student while on school grounds, at a school

sponsored activity, or while waiting for or riding on school provided transportation,

which acts are repeated against the same student over time. Overt acts mean acts open to

view, so others may witness. Ridicule meaning to make an object of laughter, or to taunt

or mock. Harassing means to annoy persistently. Humiliate is defined as to reduce one to

a lower position in the victim’s or someone else’s eyes, or in other words, to embarrass.

Intimidate means to make one timid or fearful, or to make someone scared of you. In

summary, bullying to Region 16 personnel basically means, to hurt someone physically

or emotionally, in school related areas. We also know that bullying can occur elsewhere

like what happened to the ‘Star Wars Kid.’ I am sure that many of you use websites like

YouTube and Google Video. I am positively sure than you have heard of the ‘Star Wars

Kid’. The video is of a teen named Ghyslain Raza from Quebec, Canada, and how he

pretended to be a Star Wars character by swinging a golf ball retriever and adding his

own sound effects. Surely, he did this to amuse himself. He never would have let anyone

see it. So why is it on the internet? He was posted on the internet, because of three bullies

who discovered the video, and uploaded it to the internet without Ghyslain’s permission

or knowledge. He said that one day, everyone started to chant ‘Star Wars Kid! Star Wars

Kid!’ and he soon found out. Kids in school picked on him. Kids outside of school
cheered him on. Thousands of renditions of the video are posted throughout the internet.

He has been on talk shows, and has appeared in television programs such as the popular

show, American Dad. To you, it would seem like praise or fame, but to him, it is utter

torture. He started to pay less attention in school. He stopped trying to be fit and let

himself go. He even had to quit school and get a private tutor because of the torment he

endured. He had thousands of fans, but no friends. He sued the three troublemakers and

was awarded 351,000 dollars! At this rate, ‘The Star Wars Kid’ will always remain an

internet landmark. You may consider yourself a nice person to everyone you meet. I am

sure of it, but when you watch the video, and laugh, call him names, or comment on how

stupid or overweight he looks, you just bullied.

I believe that the act of bullying is very serious problem because not only is it

physically dangerous, but emotionally dangerous as well.

Bullying starts with the choosing of a victim. Kids are made fun of because of

their appearance, unpopularity, problems, race, religion, and many other resources.

Bullying can take many forms, like using cruel words, awful pranks, verbal threats,

intimidating looks, discourteous gestures, violence, peer pressure, picking and ganging up

on one person, isolation, spreading nasty rumors and notes, making fun of one’s friends,

family, and love life, making sexist comments, damaging the property of others, stealing

money, clothes and belongings, threats with the means to carry them out, hurting ones

you love and so on. If you think this list is disturbing, you haven’t one iota of what

bullying can do. Bullying can leave someone physically hurt. More importantly, it can

leave them depressed, weak, lonely, distracted, afraid, and make them have low dignity

and self-esteem.
 You are probably asking, “Why would people torment others like that?” Hundreds

of victims ask themselves that everyday. But what does the bully think? Some kids

follow in the footsteps of family members who also bully. Kids may bully because they

feel small in society, stupid, different, afraid, or not as good as everyone else. Kids may

bully to make up for what they go through, such as poverty, family issues, self issues, etc.

Some bully because they just enjoy the terrified looks he/she receives. Many kids are

bullied everyday by someone with sick and twisted thoughts in mind. If you wanted to

find out, go ahead, but I suggest not asking the bully upfront, unless a black eye sounds

just heavenly.

To victims, bullies are like mosquitoes that just won’t go away. They feel as

though there is nothing they can do. But they are wrong about that and many other things

as well. Some people think that bullying is just part of growing up and that victims

should just laugh along and deal with it. What are these people thinking? Many kids think

this just so they can stay somewhat safe and nothing worse happens, but being bullied can

lead to dangerous things, such as weapon-carrying, school violence, even homicide and

teen suicide. In Chicago, March 2006, 70% of boys and 30% of girls in Chicago in 6th

through 10th grade were bullied and carried a weapon for self defense. 70% of boys and

40% of girls bullied and carried weapons as a threat. Most victims show how bad they

feel, but a bully loves to see your black and blue face crying. Always ignore what a bully

says or does. Giving the bully what he/she wants is never the answer. Kids think that

most bullying leads straight to violence, but actually, most bullies are afraid to face

anyone. They may gain power and strength by bullying, but they barely ever know what

to do with it. Most kids think only boys are bullies, but girls can do nasty things to one’s
reputation. Most victims start to bully because they feel it’s ok since they were bullied,

but no one, not even the bully, has the right to be a bully, or be bullied. Worst of all,

some people think that it would be weak to tell on or report the bully. Sure, telling on

somebody would be considered weak in school society, but would you rather get the

person who has been hurting you in trouble, or end up in a locker or a trash can

somewhere? Plus, many rules and laws have been laid out to prevent bullying. Today, if a

bully ever gangs up on you, the teacher has your back!

Bullyinh can also occur in families, neighborhoods, your favorite hangouts and so

on. Bullying on media sources such as television and music are also becoming popular.

But recently, it has moved to the regions of cyberspace, known as cyber-bullying. Cyber-

bullying is a form of bullying that takes place on the internet, e-mail, text message,

blogging websites and IM. One example was our good friend Ghyslain, A.K.A. ‘the Star

Wars Kid.’ In 2006, students of New Jersey found an online ‘people-to-hit-list.’ Most

cases of cyber-bullying have taken place in large blogging websites such as MySpace and

Facebook.com. I personally do not websites like these because of cyber-bullying,

however I am not telling you to get off of these sites. I am saying just to be careful when

online. In school, bullying is a dangerous event, but it has nothing on cyber-bullying!

Real bullies have only the school body as witnesses. On the internet, a cyber-bully has

almost the entire world at his/her fingertips. Avoiding a bully in person is simple enough,

but a cyber-bully can always reach you as long as he/she has a connection to internet or

cell-phones. A real-life bully cannot keep his/her identity a secret, but a cyber-bully can

remain anonymous or impersonate another person, therefore escaping punishment.

Occasionally, a bully may see how you are reacting and may even stop, but a cyber-bully
most of the time cannot see the victim’s reaction, so the troublemaker may continue

without feeling guilt. Most of the time, in a school body, things a bully causes will

eventually become less funny, and everyone will eventually forget. Once an object of

ridicule is placed on the internet it is very difficult, if not impossible to exterminate. Not

for our friend Ghyslain though. If one person deleted their copy of ‘the Star Wars Kid,’

thousands of other people will still be able to access other videos of Ghyslain and almost

everything deleted can be retrieved when the time calls for it. So it turns out, that

Ghyslain Raza is now a “star” of the internet…permanently.

Strong cases of bullying can even have governmental punishment. It is against the

law to cause physical or emotional harm to a person or group, otherwise known as hate

behavior. It’s illegal to make threats with the means to carry them out, which is assault. It

is illegal to sexually harass someone, forcing people to give them money or property not

belonging to them, called extortion, and making a new member of a club or team go

through ‘initiation’ by doing really dangerous and/or embarrassing stunts, known as

hazing. 60% of bullies in the 2nd grade grew up, and turned out to have a felony

conviction by the age of 24. Felony is defined as a serious crime, which may involve very

expensive fines, years in confinement, or even death. For example in 2002, three students

were arrested in Woodland Regional High School. Daily, for two-and-a-half weeks, these

students were charged with risk of injury to a minor, larceny by extortion, reckless

endangerment, threatening, violence, treating people like slaves, and collecting “freedom

money.” To answer some puzzling faces, larceny by extortion means forcing someone to

give you something of theirs, and not giving it back. The current superintendent at the

time, Helen Skrzyniarz, was able to gather that all of these incidents happened not in
school, but in school-supervised areas, such as the bus. All charges were considered

misdemeanors, except for larceny by extortion, which is a Class B Felony, charged in

Connecticut as 1-20 years in jail, or a 15,000 dollar fine! 2 of the juveniles were punished

with the 15,000 dollar fine instead, while the other one was kept in detention center until

Oct. 2nd, when he was released to his parents.

Dangerous charges have been placed for bullying, but most bullies are blind to

such things. You need to know what to do to help fight the bullying disease spreading

across the minds of helpless teens. As a student, know your school rules on bullying,

hazing and harassment. Be wary of the comical words and jokes that you and your friends

are used to using. Be sure to show others that bullying and revenge is never the answer. If

you are bullied or a friend is being bullied, tell a trusted adult immediately. If your friend

is a bully, prove to them what they are doing is wrong. Personally, I would not know why

you would have a bully as a friend, yet, live and show others a caring, pacifist lifestyle.

And not only should you promote the careful eye kept on bullies, but your friends

and family should as well. For example, try to stop the act of bullying whenever you see

it. More importantly, pay attention to how different types of media use things like put-

down humor, racial or sexual jokes, and other poor behavior. Remember that media, such

as television, video games and music can corrupt a person’s way of thinking. For

example, if you hear a joke on television that is quite inappropriate, keep it to yourself.

There is no reason to tell someone a joke that is disrespectful to others.

I believe that the act of bullying is a serious problem because not only is it

physically dangerous, but emotionally dangerous as well. Before I leave you, remember

that a bully is someone who finds it enjoyable to mock, taunt, hurt, disturb, or scare a
certain person or group, but the bully may be someone simply reaching for help. If you

are ever bullied, revenge, violence, weapons, or suicide is never the answer. Report the

bully immediately to a parent, teacher, or trusted adult. Be very careful when you are on

the internet, because you never know what someone might do. Know the rules and

limitations of bullying, so you are informed. Watch the behavior of a child or friend

whenever it changes. Show everyone that living a pacifist, non-hateful lifestyle, is one of

the key goals to obtain for peace in your class, your school, town and state.

Imagine this. You just got off of the bus. The minute you step inside, you bolt to

the computer. You want to see what your best friend has said today on your MySpace

page. This person has been your friend for the longest time. You have talked together

everyday on MySpace. You were perfect for each other. But today, he left you a

comment making fun of you. Throughout the course of time, your “friend” has been

typing ugly remarks, making fun of the problems you have and is spreading the word

around so no one on MySpace wants to even hear your name. Your brain is about to

explode from the stress; like a time-bomb ticking away your happiness. What would you

do to stop all of this pain? Megan Meier, a innocent girl of 13 answered this question by

taking her life.

Megan was a simple teen, loved brand-name stores, had a best-friend-for-life, and

was getting decent grades on her report card. Her life seemed peaceful and happy. Megan

and her best friend were inseparable. They did everything together. But when Megan was

forced to move away from her home in O’Fallen, Missouri, their friendship broke apart,

leaving her friend in tears. Her mother, Lori Drew, obviously noticed this. She soon

believed, she could, “bond with her daughter,” by keeping an eye on Megan through
MySpace. She created a fake account as “Josh”, a sixteen-year-old drummer who had

gone through a very rough life. Megan thought he was funny, charming and “hot.” He

was the perfect online boyfriend. This relationship continued for sometime, until one day,

“Josh” left a comment telling Megan she was mean to her friends. This was not the last.

He continued leaving awful messages leaving Megan with the time-bomb in her head.

One day, she checked a new comment left by “Josh.” To her father’s memory, it went

like this: “Everybody in O'Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and

everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place

without you.” This left her bawling over the keyboard, as her mom was yelling at her to

come to dinner. Her parents were annoyed, Megan was in pain, and she wanted to end

everything. She bolted to her room without another word. Several moments later, when

her mother tried to see her, she gasped in utter shock, and found her daughter, a innocent

girl of 13, hung in the closet.

As you have probably summarized, bullying is a serious problem that can lead to

terrible, if not disastrous results. Megan felt the cold hand of bullying. So have Ghyslain

Raza, myself, and I bet every single one of you. You all know how bullying can leave

painful and revolting memories. Then I need you to do me a favor. Take whatever steps

you can to permanently eradicate bullying. Follow me and thousands of others who have

already taken these steps. If any of you want to achieve the world peace so longed for by

many, bullying is a good place to start. Help me in my quest to no longer have bullying

be the problem. Bullying is the question, but peace is the answer.