※ 아래 스크립트는 발표자의 발표내용을 그대로 표기하였으므로 구어체 표현이 포함되어있고,
Did you know that around one in every four students have experienced bullying at some
point in their lives? Unfortunately, it’s possible that you’ve been bullied at some point in
your life, whether it be physically, verbally, or even online. And if you
have, you might remember the many times that you’ve gone to school reluctantly.
Gotten out of bed in the morning, feeling like you’d rather go anywhere else in the world. Right? This is because bullying is a big issue, but why? Allow me to explain, with a story
that had me thinking for a long time.
My grade recently went on a school trip to Jeju Island and stayed there for four
nights at a hotel. There were around 4-6 boys for each room, and I happened to
be grouped with the new kid, Ryan. Since he’d come to my school, he’d been a
calm and tolerant person, never lashing out or getting angry at anyone. But on a
certain night, the group next door stole his shoes and room key as a joke, and
even beat him up with towels. The shocking part? Nobody cared. Everybody in our grade, regrettably, including me, felt that it was just “a joke”. Nothing more,
nothing less.
Apparently, it was nothing more than some boys messing around. Later that night,
Ryan told me that he’d been to several schools in his life because at each one,
he’d been physically and emotionally bullied due to his issues with communicating
his discomfort. And at that moment, I realized just how twisted our society has
become. How far must we regress, to the point where actual physical and
emotional bullying is considered to be a joke? The truth is, we've reached a state
in which physical and emotional bullying isn’t considered to be a problem.
People who are bullied are afraid to speak out against it. because they get the
feeling that they are going against the flow by talking about it.
A week after our school trip had ended, I was talking with my classmates at lunch,
and one of them made fun of Ryan’s angry reaction to his bullying, saying that he was too sensitive. You’d be hard pressed to find someone that agrees with him,
but yet we see it all around us.
People are always telling each other to “just ignore it,” and that things are going to get
better. Wrong. When a bullied person asks you for help, don’t turn them away by saying
those dreadful words. If someone was standing in front of a moving truck, you wouldn’t
just tell them to be tough and take it, you'd try to save them!
And this is why bullying goes on for so long without intervention. The victims of
bullying are afraid that they will sound weak or sensitive by talking about their
issues.
One day, your friend or classmate might walk up to you and tell you about his or
her bully, and when they do, ask them this question: “What do you need?” because victims of bullying are in need the most out of all of us. It’s also known that often
times, a bully will pick on people that exhibit weakness, which is why they targeted
Ryan. But if they knew that he'd gone through abuse in his past, would they still
have bullied him? I don’t think so.
A change in perspective is needed to stop bullying. People need to look at
bullying from a new perspective, the victim’s perspective. In the words of the great
classical age philosopher, Socrates, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a
hard battle.” Honestly, Ryan doesn’t look like the kind of person who would be bullied on
the outside. He’s one of the tallest kids in our grade and looks like he wouldn’t be messed with, but his large figure hides his inner emotional turmoil,
which is a result of his troubled past.
One day, you might meet someone. And when you meet someone, you are faced
with a choice. And when you faced with that choice, always choose kindness by
asking that question: “What do you need?” because bullying hates kindness.
Thank you for listening.