Opinion: Stand Side by Side - Bullies Won't Stand a Chance
- Flo Lavallie | February 26, 2014
Bullying happens until it is stopped - Bullying can happen to anyone - Bullying can be by one person or many Bullying can happen anywhere Bullying may include: name calling, cruel comments, teasing, spread rumours, excluding someone from a group, physical or verbal attacks, making people feel frightened, putting people down Bullying is almost always intentional.
Why do People Bully?
To pretend they are tough to try to get others to like them to hide their fears, to copy others who bully they are unhappy they don't like who they are.
It has nothing to do with you, do not feel guilty! It's a statement about who they are as human beings. How does Bullying make you feel?
Depressed, sick, fed up, nervous, tired, angry, stuck, humiliated, unsafe, alone, scared, confused, worried, lonely, sad and not wanting to go to school.
If you are being bullied what can you do? Get help, don't keep it a secret, avoid the bully, be with other people violence is not the answer.
If someone is being bullied, what can you do? How can you help? Be a friend, be a mediator. Talk to someone who can help.
Stand up and take the first step. Doing nothing is actually doing something. It makes the situation worse.
Standing around watching can be mistaken as approval and can actually reinforce the bullying. Kids that bully will become adult bullies and only then we'll call it abuse, assault, harassment etc.
Be part of the solution!
Bullies often are addicts of drugs or alcohol during that period in time when they bully others they feel empowered to force them into financially supporting their habit.
People who use drugs to change consciousness, which does work. However, once this mode of operating becomes a habit and then a way of life. Changing consciousness transforms to avoid suffering and eventually is suffering. This happens outside of awareness. Before long, addiction is causing suffering and eventually is suffering. It is ironically an attempt to heal, to seek relief via getting high, medicating feelings, escaping how things are right now.
When children get bullied at school all day, their self esteem, self worth is affected to the point of not being able to stand up for themselves.
There is the Kids Help Phone, 1-800-668-6868. You can also phone the police or 911. These calls are confidential. You need to identify yourself so they can protect you.
Flo Lavallie, DNM www.companionhealthoasis.com