10/19/10

Bullying

The other weekend I was watching a special on 20/20 about bullying. I literally broke down in tears after hearing the parents share stories about how some kids words led their child to commit suicide. I sat back and thought to myself. How could kids be so cruel? Why is being "different" such a bad thing? Who gives someone the right to physically, mentally, and emotionally hurt anyone? What shocked me the most about the doc was the increasing numbers in suicide throughout the years due to bullying. I could only imagine what was going through some of the kids minds those last few moments of their life. It must be awful to feel so alone. I guess one could start at the root of the problem and ask questions like is it the bully's fault? I personally do not believe it is. All children seek attention and to be honest, I too have experienced bullying as a child. Now that I look back at it I realize that the person who said all of those hurtful things to me wanted nothing more than attention. If you have never noticed, bullies only bully because they do not want to be the victim. They pick on the kid that "stands out". The kid that isn't doing what everyone else is doing. The idea of being different needs to be promoted. Kids, and even adults, need to understand that it's okay to be different. You don't have to fit in, hell it would be best if you don't the way society is today. If messages like "it's okay to be different" "respect one another" and "be kind" were promoted around schools thinks like this would not be happening. The responsibility is in the parents hands. A parent must listen to the child and if they want to change schools, be home schooled, or anything of that sort let them. It seemed as though that was the number one regret of some of the parents, not listening to their child. Sorry if my thoughts seem to be all over the place. I just really want everyone to open their eyes to this. A child should not have to feel so alone to the point where the only answer to their problems has to be death, all because another child made them feel worthless. Understand the problems that the youth are facing today. Yeah it may just be a little problem, "kids being kids", but at the end of the day a child should not feel threatened to go to school, made fun of on the internet, or anything of that sort. Also, something that you guys might find interesting: Perez Hilton is starting up a campaign called "it gets better" to help prevent cyber bullying. Kind of ironic right? The man who makes fun of everybody. It goes to show that bullying occurs in all age groups. Anyways, Khloe Kardashian made a video for him. I love her, she said exactly what I would have said if I was her <3

5 comments:

Nita said...

I gotta be honest Kenza, I dont tolerate that shit. Being picked on as a young teen, all the way from 7th to 11th grade, for being bony, and ugly and called "Ethiopian" or "Tales From The Crypt" everyday, I would go home and cry Kenza. Not for just being picked on, but because I couldn't be myself. I hated having to do things like dye my hair, force feed, and lie and buy expensive shoes just to fit in. I dont exactly appreciate being bullied, but Im glad I went through 5 years of hell. I dont toleratew shit from anyone. I demand respect from my personna, and I dont have to bully ppl to get it. I feel so bad for others who can't find themselves and seex advice but feel they will be laughed at. If these kids would stay alive a little longer, they'd see Karma is real. funny how karma works. Im not ugly at all. dont care how conceited I sound either. I appreciate my beauty. Dont know why ppl uphold it so much. I can bet you one thing. All the men that teased me have tried to get with me after high school. All the women try to befriend me. if fake was a phase. I never went through it. Im against bullying and looks never mattered to me. Now it seems like thats all I get approached about. There wasn't a day I didn't get picked on. Now there's not a day I dont get hit on #KeepinItReal


I can hold out on being friends with people who dont deserve to know how great Iam. I keep a few close, but honestly Cam, Im not into shallow ppl. All the chicks that thought they were the "Shit" either have kids or are preg...nant. They either work dead end jobs or smoke or live low life styles to support their lack of ambition. The guys run around smokin weed and gettin ppl preggo. Thinkin they will rap and support themselves on their baby mama's welfare..psh!!!! #FuckThat and fuck those people for makin me cry everyday after school and being afraid to be myself




-I was so gonna do a blog on this, but I figured someone else would, so glad you did


-Thanks for reading


-Juanita Funtanares

Kenza said...

Good for you! Everyone that I remember being a bully in school is either preg now too. Crazy how things work out!

Thanks for sharing your story :)

neopolitanicecreamshouldhavemorechocolateandstrawberryflavour said...

Perez hilton didn't start the campaign,a guy named Dan Savage did.

I don't understand why the "those girls getting pregnant" is revenge, not everyone thinks getting pregnant is a hinderance in life. Regardless, making fun of them now is perpetuating the mentality that this post is supposed to address.

Finally, thanks for a sincere post about an important and highly relevant topic.

Anonymiss said...

oh boy.

Look, personally I got bullied nuff too... I just beat them up. As soon as I learned to fight, big small fat I didn't give a shit your ass is catching liks. Also, when I got a lil older, I would always get on the girls that bullied other girls. It was funny, reverse bullying or some shit lol. But it worked, be it for fear of getting beat up or whatever else regardless it worked and I don't care if those people didn't like me cause I stood up for the lil' guy/gal.

I mean I'm not advocating violence, I'm just saying, I could never call people certain things. It's just not acceptable. I don't do shit talking.

At any rate, it's not ok to give up either. It is by no means ok to make this all about the big bad bullies and not work on developing self confidence.

All I'm saying is confront your bully. You'd be surprised at how often that works. What's the worst that could happen? It won't kill you that's for sure, apparently harboring the resentment will though...

As far as Parez goes, for real that is some hypocritical shit right there... I believe in second chances too, but man I swear I just heard this guy talking smack on the radio like yesterday... hmm.

Kenza said...

my apologies for getting the founder of the campaign wrong. also, i was not trying to say that getting preg was revenge. i was giving an example of the girls that picked on me throughout my childhood ended up in a bad situation a few years later. the bad situation not being pregnancy, but being having no stable income, a family at a young age, and no one to turn to. not laughing at the fact. just pointing it out.

thanks for your feedback regardless.