I know a lot of you guys all think you’re cool, and when you hear the title of this article you won’t even want to read it. But thinking you’re so cool is part of the problem. You want to impress your friends and think calling out a ninth grader is the way to prove it. There’s a fine line between normal adolescent teasing and really hurtful behavior.

Sharon Osbourne recently participated in a program with Franz Ferdinand and Natasha Bedingfield to stop bullying. “I want to get involved because my eldest daughter was severely bullied for her entire life at school. It just has to stop because everybody should have the freedom to be themselves, to learn and to not be afraid.” Tom Cruise also recently talked about being bullied at school for his dyslexia (if you don’t

know, he sees letters/words in a confusing order).

Sophomore Stephen Moore had a problem with bullying in middle school. “Various kids would insult me, take my backpack, make me feel generally bad about myself. Finally I had to file bullying harassment papers on them.”

What bullies don’t realize is that their actions can, on occasions lead to violent retaliation. In the school shootings that occurred in the US in the last few years, almost all of the individuals accused of the crimes said that they had been teased or rejected. A good example is the now infamous Columbine shooting in 1999 perpetrated by two high school students who were enraged by their classmate’s taunts and insults. This had major consequences with many innocent students losing their lives.

Stephen is just one of many students in our school who has experienced bullying. Now that it’s past him, he can share what he has learned. “I’d say stand up for yourself early on, I know if I had they would have stopped sooner.”

Benjamin Disraeli once said “Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” Bullies are cowards, and I know I’m not a coward.