Stop Bullying

Worldwide, bullying is a bigger issue than people realize. February twenty-second is Bullying Awareness Day, or Pink Shirt Day in Canada. Not many people know the story behind this day, even though we have it. In New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Chuck McNeill was a Grade 9 student. Because he wore a pink shirt to school, Chuck was being bullied by some older students. Two bystanders, Travis Price and David Shephard, saw what was happening and went out and bought fifty pink shirts and gave them to their friends. All of their friends wore the shirts, and it turned into the movement that we know and love today.
You may be wondering why this matters to you. The simple answer is that it doesn't, unless you've been bullied or bullied yourself. The one thing that many people forget about bullying is this: Ignoring it makes you a bully, whether you are bullying yourself or just someone on the street. Why didn't you stand up for yourself? Were you afraid to stand up? Of course you'd be afraid, fear is a part of life. It is the fact that the scene you were a witness to could be the most important scene of your life or their life. It could have been the most painful, the most traumatic or the most honest, the most truthful.
Another thing you might think is: "Not many kids get bullied" or "It doesn't really affect people. Did you know that one in four teens is a victim of bullying? Did you know that children are bullied every seven minutes? Did you know that more than one hundred and sixty thousand people skip school just because they are afraid of being bullied? Did you know that some kids keep quiet about being bullied, so those numbers could be much higher?
The other day I realized something about a famous game. The name of this game is Hangman. It has taught me to realize something about life as well as about bullying situations. It taught me that if you say the wrong thing, it could end someone's life.
Category:Rants
Category:Bullying
Category:Speeches
Category:User:Waiting For The Signal
Category:Moderate Read
Category:Non-Fiction
Category:Pink Shirt Day
Category:New Brunswick
Category:Nova Scotia
Category:Student
Category:Trauma
Category:Witness
Category:Canada
Category:Worldwide Issues