Stop Bullying in Our Schools
by Alexis Smith
September 6, 2012
This is what I have to say about bullying: bullying is not cool at all and it has a major effect on people. Treat others with respect at all times. Don’t be a follower and bully people because your friends are doing it, be a leader and help stop it. Bullying is an issue that affects me because I am a victim of bullying. Being bullied caused me to lose my spirit. It took me years to regain my spirit. I am a stronger person today because of what I’ve been through. I have been bullied since I was 9-and-a-half years old. It all started in September, 2004 when I attended my first school where I interacted with both disabled and non-disabled students. I didn’t know how to communicate with people who were non-disabled because I came from a school where there were all disabled students.
Within a couple of weeks of being at my new school, the popular girls made fun of how I ate my popcorn because I wasted popcorn on my clothes. There was a girl who told me she was my friend but would make fun of how I walked when the popular girls were around. One of the popular girls told me my legs were broken because I couldn’t walk like everyone else. People would call me a retard because I had to be taken out of my main classroom and into another room to be taught at a different level and pace. I needed to be taught at a different level and pace because at my former elementary school I wasn’t taught on my correct grade level and wasn’t challenged enough. I was told at my new school that I had a learning disability. People would make fun of how I read because I didn’t read very well. People would make fun of how crossed my eyes were. People would make fun of how tight my legs and arms got when I extended them when I would get mad. I would come home crying almost everyday. People would say, look at her high school musical t-shirt, it’s such a childish shirt. People would say I had a big a** forehead. They would call me a white girl because I spoke correct English. People would make fun of me because I had a lot of pimples on my face.
The bullying continued into high school. This girl made fun of our group project in Art class because I drew a picture, and she said it looked sloppy. In gym class a girl said, “Look at your feet they don’t even touch the floor when you’re in you are in your wheelchair.” People would whisper and ask my biology lab partner if I could stand up straight, because I had never stood up in class. People would yell and curse at me for making a mistake and running them over in the hallways. They would say, “She is always running mother******* over, if she runs me over I will knock her a** out.” This past June, I joined a “Stop Bullying Pledge” on http://www.heyugly.org/. I joined the pledge because I want bullying to stop! I’m so tired of hearing about people who killed themselves on the news because they’re being bullied! Politicians should address the issue of bullying because the suicide rate will decrease if there was a law passed to stop bullying. It will make a big difference!
