Deep breath.

Look down.

Don’t look anyone in the eye.

Just blend in and you’ll be okay.

If you mess up, it could cost you everything you’re worth.

Don’t let them see you break. Keep on shuffling down the hallway.  Maybe sing a song in your head to try and make it better. The hallway is a battlefield that is difficult to survive.  I finally make it to your locker.

As I put the books in my locker I hear that voice.

“Oh hey loser! How’s it going?”

Ignore them.  If I do maybe they will go away.  I finish at your locker and begin your next perilous journey through the minefields of the hallway to your class.

The lives of bullied children are filled with constant fear and anxiety. In the movie “Bully”, five families with children who had been bullied document their lives to show the world the affects of bullying. Two of the families had children who had commit suicide as a result of the bullying. One of the victims is a girl who claims herself to be a lesbian. Another, more violent, victim brought a gun on her bus and is incarcerated after she finally snaps from the torment. “Bully” gives the theatre an emotional wake up call to the effects of bullying. It provided many examples of people that are targeted for bullying and what can happen if this intimidation persists.

According to Webster’s dictionary, “Bully” or “Bullying” means: to treat abusively; to affect by means of force or coercion. Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior manifested by force to affect others negatively, particularly if there is an imbalance of power between the bully and the bullied. Bullys use physical violence, emotional abuse and verbal or sexual harassment to taunt their victims. The bully selects who they bully based on race, physical power, religion, gender, social qualities, sexuality, or ability. The imbalance of power between the two always seems to be the main culprit. One person puts another down because he or she feels they have the grounds to do so. Bullies prey on weak or’ people who are easily targeted. Studies have shown bullys, at one time, were bullied themselves.

Bullying, no matter who it happens to, has to start somewhere. As already mentioned, the imbalance of power is a significant part of bullying.  Bullying can begin at home.  Kids might be bullied verbally or even physically by their own parents or siblings. This might boil over to bullying from those kids at schools. Bullying can start easily. A careless classmate throws out a rude comment, not thinking anything of it.  But those words lead to more words, and before anything can be done, that child is a victim of bullying. A student might not know that they are becoming a bully.  Students might think they are just “name calling” but in many cases, that is where bullying begins.  It is when name calling gets too far that it is pushed into the bullying category.  It is very easy to cross this line and that is where bullying can begin.

Both children and adults can be bullies.  It can happen at school, in the workplace, online orin any social setting.  It is almost impossible to stop, and equally difficult to determine where or how it started.  That is what makes it so scary.

So you keep walking, one foot in front of the other.  Your class is so close yet so far away. You make it to the threshold of the room when you realize, it is not going to stop when you enter this classroom.  When there are breaks in class, and when the teacher is not looking you will get picked on.  Why you? That question will never be answered.  You slowly walk in and take a seat.