What do I do?
There I was standing in the middle of the hallway, looking quite dumb with my mouth gaping and my eyes wide. In front of me was a girl my age crying into her hands, her eyes red as fire. I could tell that more than sadness, anger blazed in her heart and that would not go away unless I did something. I wanted to help, but I did not know what to do.
The girl's name was Kathy and she was a shy, quiet girl, who always was kind to everyone. She was always to herself and she had moved to this school a month ago. Her only friend, Mary, was the first friend she met that year and now Mary had hurt her with the words, "You are so totally ugly! No one will ever like you!" Mary had nicknamed Kathy "Ugly Duckling" and when ever Kathy passed by she would say, "Hey, Ugly Duckling!" The whole time Mary was thinking that Kathy did not mind and that it was all a joke. Even when Mary laughed after that, Kathy took it seriously. Was this bullying? The girl had been insulted in a "friendly" way by her only friend in her new school. Now, she was curled up in a ball, wailing, next to her bag. Her best friend did not know how it hurt her, how it pierced through her heart like a bloody arrow... But bullying can be that way: harsh, sad, and the bully oblivious that she is a doing something wrong.
I felt like a dying duck, just staring at her. No one was in the hallway and Kathy was lonely. She glanced up at me with swollen eyes. I knew I should have done something that second, something that would turn this terrible day of hers around. But, it was none of my business, right? What if people who were friends with Mary start to not like me? Mary had a gang of friends, what if Mary and her gang started to bully me on purpose? The bell rang. Suddenly kids were everywhere and Kathy was lost in the crowd. My heart was filled with sadness and for the rest of the week I regretted not helping her that moment, because she would remember that day forever.
All through the week I just... did not feel right. Even though I was not the one who insulted Kathy, I was somewhat responsible. In a silent way I was supporting a bully. To this day I remember that moment and I wish I could have sat down with Kathy and watch her face light up with happiness, as I try to cheer her up, or, even better, went and told Mary how Kathy was hurt and that it was not a very nice joke. I could have made a difference, but I stood there selfishly thinking about my well-being, when all I had to do was be a friend to Kathy. From then on, I feel that if I stand up for every kid who is bullied I will be correcting the sin that I did to Kathy and saving a heartbroken kid from being mentally scarred.
This morning, as I walked down the hallway and watched as kids from around the globe talked and laughed together in satisfying harmony, I thought about what ISKL (International School of Kuala Lumpur), my school, could do to make it more welcoming and happier, so that bullying would not exist.
We at ISKL can comfort the person being bullied and we could tell the teacher about the bullying. ISKL students could stand up for the person being bullied and, thus, stand up for all those kids being bullied across every school. ISKL can be the best school and we could be role models to students from ever corner of the world and show them that bullying is a crime and should be ceased, immediately and as soon as it starts. Us, students at ISKL, should treat each other the way we would want to be treated. We as a community can communicate effectively, think creatively, reason critically, collaborate constructively, learn enthusiastically, live ethically, and stop any kind of bullying, big or small, in our school.
I walked happily into the classroom. I knew we, ISKL, could accomplish this.
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| STOP BULLYING! http://www.cknw.com/EndBullying.aspx |
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| http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-in-time-homeschooling/201003/mean-girls-and-homeschooling-moms |
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