When you are walking down the hall and you see someone being teased what would you being doing in that situation? Would you be the victim, being picked on and feeling like you’re all alone? Would you be the bully, standing there putting some innocent person through torture just for some twisted feeling of pleasure? Or would you be a person in the background, feeling bad for that kid who was being bullied, but being too scared of what would happen to you if you tried to step in? Or maybe, just maybe, you would be one of the few who actually intervenes and tells the bully to back off? We should all strive to be that one person who tries to stop a bully because one day, that victim will be thinking back on that day that they were being bullied, and they won’t remember the bystanders, they certainly aren’t going to feel any sense of happiness when thinking about the bully, but when they think of that one person who stood up for them, they will think that he or she was one of the bravest people they know and they will always feel grateful. You have a chance to become that one person, even if you have made mistakes in the past. Now I’ll tell you about the different types of bullying and how you can put a stop to them.

The Gossiper Bully. The Gossiper bully is one of the more common bullies. Actually, nearly everyone is a Gossiper bully, but most people don’t realize that. I think that Gossiper Bullies are stereotyped as the popular kids in school, who think that they are better than you and always try to put you down. Sure the populars are usually gossipers and usually they gossip more then others. But let’s say you were talking to one of your friends and somehow you start talking about a girl who is constantly picked on and you start bagging on her hair and how she smells. That IS gossip bullying. You might be thinking it’s okay because everyone else does it, but it’s not. And even if you aren’t talking about her, you’re just sitting there listening, you’re still bullying. You need to step in and tell them to change the subject because if no one is willing to step up for that person she’s not going to have anyone. I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy feeling all alone and that everyone hates you. Once, I had a friend and she was always being talked about behind her back and she knew it. One day I was walking to one of my classes with a group of friends and they started talking about her and I told them that they needed to stop and that she deserved to be given a chance. They changed the subject, but everyone still talked about her all the time. She didn’t have many friends and not many people stuck up for her, but whenever people were gossiping about her, I’d tell them to stop. But there weren’t many of us who stuck up for her and we were against a whole class of people who didn’t like her. About halfway through the year she left because she didn’t like being friendless and talked about all the time. And people still talk about her. She left because of bullies who wouldn’t give her the time of day to prove that she was a nice person. You can put a stop to that. If you talk about people in a degrading way stop and if you hear others talking about someone that way, tell them to stop. And teasing someone to the face is wrong as well. If you have ever called someone a loser or something along that line, stop. Try giving them a compliment next time you see them. It might be hard to break the old habit of gossiping about others and you might be teased a little in return, but it will pay off in the long run. When you stand up for someone you’ll feel like you are on top of the world, so give it a try.

Cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is kind of like the “cousin’ of gossip bullying. It’s teasing over a text or a social network like Facebook for example. Cyber bullying is also very common. Sometimes a rude person will comment on one of your posts saying, wow you look horrible or oh my gosh you’re so dumb. A lot of the time, it’s a lot worse than that. People will call others vulgar names and they will just try to break that person down, to try to make themselves feel better about themselves or they might do it because they want to seem cool. But that is not cool. Even when you are listening to a song or watching a video on YouTube and you don’t like it, that doesn’t give you the excuse to leave a nasty comment. People take it to heart it and it causes them to drastic things. Some people even go to the extreme and commit suicide because as if it wasn’t enough at home, they get bullied over the internet, too. Again, all you have to do is stand up and tell people to stop. If you see a nasty comment, tell that person that they shouldn’t be doing that and that whoever they are talking about doesn’t deserve to be put down. And tell that person who is being bullied that they are a good person and not to listen to the bully. And if you have been bullying someone over the internet or over texts tell them you apologize. Make some cheesy comment on Facebook saying you’re sorry and that everyone who is bullying should just stop because they don’t know how much pain they’re putting the victim through. A lot of people will stand up for other too if you just give them a good example to follow.

So now that I’ve told you about some of the different types of bullying, I hope I’ve shed some light on the fact that you might be just bullying without knowing it and that bullying needs to be put to rest. Now I think we should make a pact. A pact that we won’t bully others and we’ll just try to put a stop to it. It takes away so many lives and ruins so many families. People feel alone and they need a person to show them that they are cared for. So be that person. Tell people that they are perfect just the way they are and that the bullies are wrong. Be the person that people will be grateful that they were lucky enough to have you because you have the power to be that person. And spread the word that bullying needs to stop. Some people may say that you can’t stop bullying, but you have to try anyways because people will follow you and together we can put a stop to bullying. So I promise to try my hardest to stop bullying. What do you say?