Imagine being a terrified freshman on the first day of high school. Expectations range like points on a scatter plot. You are not quite sure where to go and dread getting in the way of the returning pupils. You feel insecure and out of place. It is all so surreal and burdensome. Suddenly, you long for the eighth grade again, when you were at the top of the social food chain. You then think to yourself, how can this get any worse? Then, completely out of nowhere, a delinquent senior smashes you up against a locker and disperses your books in all different directions, barks a derogatory name at you, and leaves the scene clamoring with his band of friends. It’s official: you have a bully.

This is only a little taste of a daily occurrence for several inauspicious students. Some students are mocked, tormented, and/or abused relentlessly by abhorrent bullies. Some are even tortured by several hoodlums simultaneously. In some cases, bullying has gotten so malicious that teenagers have been deterred from attending school because of these enduring conditions. The students opt to say home in order to avoid being a target for the pranks and punches of the bully and sacrifice falling behind on school work to do it. Some victims have even resorted to suicide to end their sufferings. It is mind boggling how terrible conditions must be in order for a student to even contemplate suicide as a solution to a problem. Yet, the question still lingers: Why do the bullies continue to bully?

Bullies ascertain, what they consider, the weak and peculiar students. Bullies consider if these students are homosexual, lack a decent sense of fashion, or have an odd, feeble physical appearance. They select these students because they are different, and that gives the bully the pretense that they are superior. Bullies single out and exacerbate a flaw in others so that others do not see their flaws. The bullies are extremely self-conscious and insecure and therefore, lower other children’s self-esteem in order to raise theirs. They may use their physical stature to compensate for a lacking mental attribution. They break their victim’s strength in order to give the illusion that it is a weakness because the bully does not possess that characteristic. It suddenly all makes sense why the burly, incompetent bullies make fun of the intelligent “nerds.” However, this still does not justify their actions.

Students who have bullies should remember to stay strong and become the better person. They should not try to fight back or seek revenge. Instead, targets should tell a trusted teacher or administrator at the school about their problem. They must not be afraid to talk to someone about their problems because that is the only way the issue will be resolved. Another crucial point to be remembered is that bullies seek a reaction from their prey. If students ignore the bully and don’t give flamboyant expressions of emotions, the bullying may eventually cease. Suicide or self- inflicted pain must be never the answer.