Pushing it around

The topic of bullying has taken the country by storm in the past few months. Almost every school, youth group, club, and social organization has discussed the numerous deaths this year due to bullying related incidents, many because of homosexuality.
This past weekend, I participated in a program through my youth group discussing bullying and what forms it takes, along with many ideas about how it happens, why it happens, and how best to stop it. These experiences inspired me to write down my thoughts from the conversation in a post.

First of all, bullying has evolved as I have gotten older. It used to be a physical thing, making one kid actually feel physically intimidated by another. One kid was bigger, thus better at football, thus the kid who could exert influence over anyone else. Now, bullying isn't even seen through the term "bullying". Instead, teasing, harassment, hazing, and a plethora of other synonyms pepper society. All in all, the terms may change but the feelings are the same: the horrible feeling of not being loved, not being accepted, and not being good enough.

Whether or not it was recent or more in the past, everyone has been on either the giving end or receiving end of bullying at some point in their lives. The fact that it is so common should, in theory, lead to its demise. It is not, however, so easy to buck the trend and to get over the social tendency to make other feel bad in favor of a more positive environment. Unfortunately, all too often people see these types of acts as needing vengeance, and therefore pay it forward in a negative way, rather than doing the right thing and braking the chain.

The easiest type of bullying to do and the hardest to break is the act of doing nothing. When we sit back and let other people get bullied or harassed, we are just as guilty of the pain that that person suffers as the person actually doing the bullying. It isn't easy to stand up to someone who is tormenting someone else. There is a fear sometimes that the person will turn their attack on you, instead of the original target. Despite this, we need to be the bigger person in these situations and take a stand against those who attempt to break down the community that we try so hard to build up.

It is each of our jobs to stop this behavior in its tracks. No longer is it acceptable to stand idly by and watch others be put down, hurt, and emotionally beaten for any reason at all, whether it be because of race, sexual orientation, religious view, or simply who they are and what they enjoy doing. We are the generation that will stop this sort of behavior and instead build communities that encourage everyone to become better, to live together happily and to be truly happy. This might sound idealistic, but if we don't try to make ideal situations realities, the only one who we are beating is ourselves.