Dear Mr Bully,
You’re picking on that kid in class again, the same one you have been picking on for years, the one who sits in the back, stays quiet, always does his work, never misses school, and always has a smile on his face. You pick on him, why? Is it because he wears nerdy glasses? It is because he is always quiet?
Lunch comes and you see him again, you start calling him names, throwing food at him, getting all your friends to do the same. He just sits there and ignores you, he eats his lunch, and maybe he reads a book. He does whatever he can to not let you bother him. Finally you’ve had enough after all these years, you want his reaction, so you walk over there the big and macho guy you are. You start poking him, calling him names again, screaming in his face, you throw his book on the ground, push him around. You do everything you can to get a reaction but he doesn’t budge. He just stands up, grabs his books, smiles and walks away. You’re confused aren’t you? You ask yourself, why didn’t he cry? Why didn’t he do something?
School’s over and you see the same kid walking home, the same one you have been bullying every single day for the past few years, he has a smile on his face, books in his backpack. He is walking minding his own business, not a care in the world. You and your friends decide to go mess with him. You walk up to him, knock his glasses off, push him around, push him to the ground, and hit him a few times. This time you get your reaction, the kid who you have been tormenting all these years finally broke, and he finally started crying! Is that what you wanted? Are you finally happy? After years of bullying him, calling him names, beating him, you finally got a reaction out of him. Are you done now?
Well you are, because what you didn’t know was that, that kid you bullied every single day, all day for the past few years is having a terrible time at home as well. School was escape from home, and home was his escape from school. He finally has had enough, he can’t do it anymore. He wants out. He can’t go to school without being picked on by you, and he can’t go home without there being a problem. He could run away, but he is just 15, where would he go? He knows what he has to do. The question is, will he? He finally gets up the courage to do it, he writes a note to his family, explaining this wasn’t all their fault. He tells him there’s other people involved, a specific bully to be exact, and that bully, is you.
How do you feel? How do you feel knowing you bullied someone so bad that they took their own life, they made it clear that your part of the reason they were so unhappy, and they thought there wasn’t another way out. It was because of your constant tormenting, your constant torture that they decided they had had enough. How would you feel about that? I bet it wouldn’t feel good. All the guilt you have inside, every single day, knowing you pushed that kid to the very end. You broke him so much he thought he could never be fixed again. That boy killed himself partly because of you. That is something you can never forget. You bullied someone so much because you thought it made you look cool. Now he is gone and there is nothing to do to bring him back. Are you satisfied?
Just remember bullying isn’t cool, at all. You never know what someone is going through, don’t be the person that makes them hate their life even more than they already do. Don’t be the one to kick someone when they are already down. Be the person that helps them up…
Don’t push someone to the end.