Just type in "bullying" on the internet and check the results. What do you see? A range of high school kids bullying one particular student, or a sad high school student alone, crying. And when you look closer, you would notice the captions. Most of them go like - “Bullying Survival Tricks”, “Dealing with bullying”, etc. What does this tell us about ourselves? That instead of stopping bullying, we are finding ways to “deal” with it. It’s like saying that rather than finding the cure for Covid -19, wear masks and try not to get sick with it.
We see pictures of high school students, we imagine high school students bullying one particular child, but we never question “Why do we only see high school students? Some say that the reason is that they are teenagers and teenagers tend to have impulse reactions and varied emotions. Others say that the family issues of the bully are the reason.
In movies, we often see the bully have a sad story behind their actions, Either being neglected by the family or other family issues, bullies always have had a reason to bully in movies. However, many times, from life, what I have noticed the reason to be is - entertainment. High school students tend to do it for entertainment and sometimes even for respect and power.
In whatever way may be the reason for bullying, none of the above justifies how it impacts a bullied person. Mentally and physically, a person is traumatized. It makes it difficult for them to accept themselves. Imagine when such events occur at an early stage; it brings down the entire confidence and performance level.
The world NEEDS to be a more compassionate place for people to survive in. A place where you can not harm someone for your pleasure. A place where you accept people the way they are. A place where being different is fine. A place where no matter how hard one’s life is, they can not hurt someone else for it.
Written when working on the theme of Bullying at Counter Speech Fellowship, YLAC.
©Aaira Goswami, 2020. All rights reserved.