Bullying
Bullying is when someone harasses someone else systematically and deliberately aiming at frightening or intimidating them.
Typically, bullies call names, say bad things or spread rumors about their victims, tease or make consistent comments on their physical appearance, intellectual abilities, social status, religion or ethnicity. They may also steal or damage their possessions, hit, pinch, punch and exclude them from activities.
Generally, victims of bullying are perceived as different in some sort of way; they may be different physically: taller, shorter, fatter or because they have a darker or fairer skin colour; or they may be different intellectually: more or less intelligent. Some students get bullied because they are very good at school and some because they aren’t.
Some adults belittle the problem saying it has always existed and that it can also be beneficial in that it makes children stronger and teaches them how to face difficulties. Conversely, bullying makes children miserable, it makes them feel unsafe and insecure.
If you are being bullied, you must take action immediately because bullying is very harmful. Talk to a teacher, your parents or a friend and ask them to help you. Don’t stay alone; bullies usually pick on their victims when they are alone but don’t dare when they are with other people.
If a friend of yours is being bullied, do your best to support them. Know that victims of bullying may be too scared to tell anybody they have a problem. Convince your friend that it is absolutely important that they talk to an adult. If you can’t convince your friend, you may want to consider the option of doing it yourself.
Some students bully because they think that in so doing they can be popular, seem strong and tough; others because they have been victims of bullying themselves and try to make up for their defeats by taking it out of weaker students; still others because they are jealous of their victims.
Whichever the reason, bullying is never a sign of strength, it’s a sign of weakness. It’s a desperate attempt to hide fragility and insecurity.