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| Stop Bullying! |
He could feel the stares. They all stood there, watching.
His books were scattered on the floor, papers strewn across the grungy
linoleum. His back pressed against the locker, the combination lock digging
into his flesh, scraping him. No one moved to intervene. No one helped pick up
his papers or books. No one drew attention to themselves.
The bully, laughing, feeling better about his own existence
and suddenly powerful, walks away with his buddies. Still no one moves or says
anything.
He avoids the stares as he drops to the floor and begins to
retrieve his possessions. He’ll have to rewrite that essay for World
Literature. The teacher won’t care that it was destroyed by the bully. With
head bowed, carrying his books close to his body in the hopes that no one else
will knock them out of his hand, he burrows a path through the crowded halls to
his next class. Perhaps someone else will be the next target and he can get
through the rest of the day unscathed.
People step away from him, not wanting to be a target for
the next barrage of high school bullying. Even those who pat him on the back
and call him friend hide their faces when the bullies come near. It’s better to
allow someone else take the brunt of the abuse and stay out of the line of
sight. Don’t draw attention to yourself. Hide. Blend in. Go unnoticed.
And therein lies the problem. The time for silence is over.
The time to think this is acceptable behavior and a rite of passage has come
and gone. Remaining silent when someone else is being attacked and abused is a
crime and if we refuse to get involved when we see it, we forfeit the right to
have others stand for us when we fall under attack. We should not hide from
hate, but rather, stand up to it and stomp it out. The bullied far outnumber
the bullies and if we just stand and say, “No more,” the sheer force of numbers
will silence those who would cause fear and havoc in people’s lives.
You may think that the battle is not yours, but that is
truly a coward’s way out. When you see an injustice being committed, you need
to speak out. Do not think that it will never happen to you because bullies go
from football Jerseys to three-piece suits, from jocks to politicians. When a
freedom is stripped from you because others can justify their silence by saying
that it doesn’t affect them, you will wish they would join the cause. Silence
is never justified. “I don’t want to get involved” just won’t cut it anymore.
The time is now. The silence must end. People need to know you will stand by
them. It only takes one to start a movement in the right direction. It only
takes one to show someone that they are not alone. I challenge you to be that
one. End the silence and together we can end the hate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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