Recently, Robert Gladden, a 15 year old in High school, brought a gun to school and fired a few rounds, in hopes that he would be shot by a policeman. Gladden had been bullied in his high school, and wanted to get revenge. Gladden didn't want to injure anyone with his shots; he just wanted to be shot by a policeman. Gladden did shoot and injure a kid, and now, since Gladden is in questioning, says that he shows deep remorse for the child who was injured. Now, let me ask you, did the "bullies" want Gladden to shoot up the school, in hopes of being shot by a policeman? Of course not. Gladden just suffered the bullying, and nobody reached out a hand of acceptance to him. The ironic part of this story is that now, students are holding anti-bullying rallies. Did it really take someone to shoot up a school for you to change your stance on bullying?
Another case of high school bullying brings up another issue schools are hopelessly attempting to stop: cyber bullying. Over the summer, two twitter groups began posting degrading comments about students attending Traverse City West Senior High School. These posts harassed students because of their name, appearance, or dating partner. One student, a victim of these tweets, Catilyn Keener, was very upset by these posts, and reported the group to the police department. The police said that since students could choose whether or not to view these posts, they couldn't do anything about it. You might ask yourself, why would students follow such a group? Because of two reasons: 1. they want to be aware if their name appears on their list, and 2: people eat up gossip. It's a common fact: gossip spreads around schools faster than free candy during Halloween. High School is really survival of the fittest. In order to keep your reputation high, you might have to bring someone else down. This is bullying, and this is why bullying happens. This is also why bullying is impossible to truly stop. Surely, bullying can be toned down though. It is impossible to truly stop bullying in an environment where everyone wants to be at the top of the social pyramid.
Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14 year old boy, committed suicide after years of bullying about his sexuality. Rodemeyer declared himself a bisexual, and was endlessly bullied about it. Rodemeyer went to the school for help, but they provided little assistance that was proven to be beneficial to Rodemeyer. Lady Gaga, who Rodemeyer was a dedicated fan of, was furious when she heard of the suicide. She tweeted and posted on Facebook about the bullying, and that bullying should be stopped. Jamey was just a normal kid, who liked to play with his friends, and was excited about going into freshman year. Yet, because of bullying, his life was taken away. again, it took such an extreme to prove that bullying should be stopped. It really is horrible. People trying to reach the top of the social pyramid, pushing Jamey down in the process. Did the people pushing Jamey down the pyramid know what they were really doing? Of course not. They didn't want Jamey to commit suicide. They didn't know how Jamey really felt. If someone just offered him a hand, to help him up, maybe he wouldn't have gone through with it.
"Bullying is lame" -Frank B
"Bullies need to get over themselves and get a real life" Tom O
"Bullying is never the answer" Tyler C
Bishop Kearney promotes anti-bullying through their demerit system, their positive student body, as well as their supporting faculty. However, this isn't enough to truly minimize bullying. Next time you see someone you might not like, or someone who nobody really talks to, offer them a hand, and have a nice conversation with them. This little action will gain you a friend, and it might even save a life.
