The Plight of 4400 Per Year

This is a testament to all the children who have been bullied in the past and continue to be bullied

Julius was a normal boy, living from being inspired,

He was living to be as awesome as his father,

He was living to hang out with as many friends as he desired,

And he lived with his life with little to no bother.

But then, this same boy changed so brusquely,

When his friends changed so abruptly,

They now saw him as this "weird, different" kid,

And they now began to abuse him.

He was tortured by the barrel of their insecurities filled to the brim,

It became worse when they escalated things greatly,

Five on one hardly seems a fair fight, does it?

And they leave him conscious, only barely,

And he wonders, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Truth is Julius, you did nothing wrong, it was not your fault,

You did not deserve the abuse without halt,

What you feel is a reality found world-over,

Something that escalates to points unimaginable,

I wish I could say this to Julius now,

Because he is dead in this story,

Whether he shot or hung or drowned him, is a completely different query,

While this story may not be true, the situation is.

Wake up America! Wake up world! Realize this,

Our friends and children are dying daily from a singular cause,

Bullying! The boogeyman come to life, every childhood fear that ever was,

And we are simply letting it go without a hitch,

Was Columbine not enough? Or how about 4,400 bullying-related suicides per year?

And those absolutely devastated parents?

How long will it take for everyone to recognize the children that are so near and dear?

Sure, bullying policies go far, but not far enough. Honor codes? Ha, so few actually follow them,

That will not stop a guy with his sagging pants, forget a tormenting bullying oaf,

More needs to be done to stop this debilitating virus I call "psychological murder".

Why don't children stand up? Because fighting is disallowed, regardless of who starts it.

If kids could stand up to their bully the only way the bully could understand it,

Then it would end and end in greater student survival,

But if schools are punishing the victim for self-defense, like a totalitarianism arrival,

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me? That's not true at all.

After all, the winner of a battle is the one who stands the most tall,

But how can that be when one is embarrassed and humiliated to the point of extreme pain?

And when another life has again been self-slain?

The truth hurts, but never as much it hurt kids,

Forget dress codes, forget failure of students,

Focus on the bullying that so many kids did,

The 30% of kids that bully or are bullied,

Change things now before you lose the kids this world needs.

World, do what needs to be done. Stop this epidemic,

Stop sleeping in the reeds of quasi-ignorance,

Do more! Make things better for these kids,

Stress the message that kids should not be afraid to tell things to adults!

That what has been happening to them is not their fault,

And only then will that many more kids live to see the future ahead,

And not live to see a rope or water or pills or gun they put near their own head.

Reviews

[Joseph Tafoya]

This is amazing it's so powerful and needs to be heard. I'm only 16 and lost lots of friends to suicide because of bullying. And I actually had thoughts of it my self and it's not just teens is younger kids as well. You have a strong piece of writing right here and it needs to be heard all over it might just help in helping people getting the message across of bullying

[Abhishek Ram]

Thank you so much! I too have dealt with bullying but many of my friends have dealt with worse and I have had to talk many out of suicide, so I know exactly how you feel! The message needs to be spread. But please, don't ever think of suicide again, you, like everyone, are important in the world and we cannot afford to lose more people to this horrible disease that is bullying. Stay strong friend!