The problem with the fight against bullying is that you really can’t stop bullying. To prevent the problem you have to personalize your technique to which insecurity is being bullied and how they are receiving the criticism. Lately, with the issue of homophobic bullying causing suicides whose stories are being broadcasted, many schools (such as my own) are forming clubs and groups that are protesting against such a matter. If a school is focused on homophobic bullying, everyone else who is being bullied for their looks, race or religion is still victimized.
Being a Muslim I personally have been bullied, but I can over look that. What I have a problem with is nobody doing anything about it. Because we live in a post 9/11 society, Muslims who live in The United States are discriminated and put down for being themselves, and no one stops them. For example, after the death of Osama Bin Laden, one student whom I didn’t know, with the knowledge that I was Muslim, approached me and asked, “Are you sad that your leader is dead? But you shouldn’t be. You probably don’t know but he killed lots of people”. I just walked away, but I was upset that someone could be so ignorant as to thinking that all Muslims idolize Osama Bin Laden. Seeing no anti-religious bullying groups makes the pain worse because this means that no one cares about a victim’s suffering. However, it’s not just religious bullying that has gotten some slack.
If you are a teenager, you know that on at least one day of the five years you will spend from 7th to 12th grade you will have some idiosyncrasy pointed out about you, whether it be a zit on your forehead or your jeans from last year. Teenagers have locked themselves in a bathroom stall to cry over being bullied. There may have been no famous suicide over someone’s cheap makeup smearing but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
When something is bothering you, ignoring it will have you bottling up your feelings until it comes out to a rage, and THAT is even worse. If you were caused pain over pretty much nothing at all, wouldn’t you want to do something about it? However, bullying will always be there to sink your spirits, and this is why it is important to remember that if anyone tries to bring you down, it only means you are above them. So the only way to actually rise against bullying, is not ignoring the problem or starting a club to talk about your feelings, but isolating what it is you are being bullied about, and this may not be what mean name you were called, and instead of trying to change it, you embrace it. Tell yourself that you are okay with who you are because if you can’t stop bullying yourself, how can you expect others too. Like I said, you can’t stop bullying from happening, but you can stop it from hurting.