Speak now.

Speaking up for your friend or anyone who is a victim of bullying is always the right thing to do but it is not the choice most kids chose. Most kids would stand and watch their friend get harassed by bullies and say nothing about it. They want to but they are not willing to, instead they turn their backs and pretend nothing happens. In Karissa's blog, she shows the options she had with bullying, 

 I had about three options in this situation. I could have either confronted all of them and told them that i didn't like how they were acting, just stopped being friends with them, or i could've just kept on pretending that nothing was wrong. I knew that if i did the first two, I would probably have a group of girls hating me and not wanting to talk to me because of an issue that didn't really involve them. So, unfortunately i stuck with the third option and continued to pretend like nothing was wrong.

This shows that kids nowadays are unable to speak up for themselves and one another. They are either afraid to speak up like Karissa because she does not want to be another victim of bullying if she speaks her mind to her friends, but if she did speak up her, the girl then maybe the issue would have been solved. In addition, bullying is like a disease because it spreads until everyone gets it and we have to find a cure. Well, we are the cure to bullying, if follow the ASTI constitution and speak up for each other then maybe bullying would stop. Speaking up can make a difference because you are being the voice for the victim who is in need of assistance because they cannot stand on their own. If we know someone who is being bullied than as an ASTI family we should speak now to  get the person some help and stop the issue. Stand up for the person because that is the right thing to do. Speaking up is the most important way we can put a stop to bullying so, we should speak now. 

Bullying.

‘Just Kidding’ and ‘Ganging up’ from Odd Girl Out by Rachael Simmon

I have never really been in a group that bullied others, that I know of. But when I was in middle school and there was this girl who would always get teased because she dressed differently or acted weird. Everyone called her names and picked on her for everything she has done because she was so not like everyone else. The people in my class would never say anything good about her or gave her the respect she deserved. Everyone chose to tease on her because she acted different and when one person starts to tease a person, everyone else follows. She was unable to say anything or stop the bullying because no one was on her side, she did not have any friends so she could not talk to anyone about how she felt. Me and everyone should have known and see that bullying her was hurting her and treating her like there was something wrong with being different.

Now, looking back at the situation I was not thinking about how it affected her at that time and I was just following everyone else. At some point I should have realized that teasing her for being different was no way to treat a person because everyone is different in their own special. This made me disappointed in myself because I should have done something and gave her the respect she deserve. Also I felt sad for her because everyone was making fun of her and she was unable to stand up for herself or do anything about it. Being bullied made her lose her voice as a person and lose all her friends because no one would want to hang out with her.

My options in this problem was that I could have either be quiet and keep letting the bullying happen or say something about it. Sadly, I sat back and watched her get bullied without saying anything to stop what was happening. In my opinion, what i did was much worst than bullying her because I had a voice to stop all the teasing but I did not do it. I just watched her get disrespected and acted like everything was okay but it really was not. The better option I should have chosen was to tell an adult that she was getting picked out or someone who was able to stop the bullying, that would have been the right thing to do. I have learn now that when someone is being bullied the right thing to do is to tell an adult, someone who is able to get help and find a way to stop all the bullying.

People bully others because sometimes it makes them feel better about themselves. Also people bully because they see someone that is different from them and they do not know how to react to the differences so they make fun of it. When one person start to bully someone and people believe it is funny then everyone will start teasing that person. And some people just like to bully others because when they bully someone it makes them feel that they have power over that person because they are able to hurt them. Bullying is a way people are able to get control and make fun of others so they can feel down on themselves.