Friday, May 6, 2011

Prevent Bullying

In Japan as well as other countries, a lot of kids have committed suicide because of bullying. In the Philippines, I know of at least one who died as a result of it. He was a high school student in a very expensive school who one day, dropped out and refused to leave his bedroom. After a few years, he killed himself or died from depression. It’s been a few years since his demise and I can’t exactly remember the cause of his death. I was just informed about it by his high school friends. What I am sure of is the fact that he stopped going to school because of classmates who bullied him.

Bullying as simple as repeated name calling and mocking in laughter to degrade another is very destructive. I know of a very lovable child who went as far as entertaining thoughts about killing herself because classmates would not stop calling her “Weirdo” and similar terms. When her mom found out about it, it was discovered that the kid had in some instances used a box cutter to make shallow slashes in her thighs. She was already practicing.

I, myself, have been a victim of verbal bullying. One thing different about me is that I am a man of the street and I was DRUNK when a few so called “friends” did it. One push that sent one of them sailing a few meters into the air and landing heavily into the floor plus a menacing growl made them stop. I was intoxicated and my God, I could have broken a few necks that night. Had I not done it, I probably would have sulked to this day.

I heard that the the "Bullies"still talk about that incident to this day and since I am not in their presence, they still laugh at me. But nobody would dare do the same when I am near. They also know that they dare not retell the story to other people.

For those of you who have kids who are being teased in school or by anybody else, do not take it lightly and gauge how your kid is taking it. Better yet, post me a message here and let’s communicate via email before it’s too late.

Linked to this post is a Time post about a similar story

My advice regarding this matter is given for FREE.

2 comments:

  1. Ako din I hate bullies. I was frail and maitim growing up and my classmates would usually call me names. I studied hard and worked on my charms to be able to land a post in the Student Council. From then on, the name-calling stopped. LOL!

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  2. Thanks for the comment, K!

    Some people approach bullying by fighting back the way you did and that's good.

    The thing is, bullying must be eliminated from schools. Teachers should be given special training to detect and solve this problems.

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