By Denevion Smith
In my first year of Highschool, kids taunted me and hated me for no reason. It didn’t occur to me to tell my parents or teachers that I was being bullied at school. Finally, when a group of boys decided to jump me and I felt overwhelmed, so I told my mom.
I feel like my school does not do enough today to protect young people from being bullied and harassed. Since the day when I was forced to fight, the school has organized campaigns, sold dozens of books, created bumper stickers, and brought in bullying experts who have adopted a presidential initiative and created a feature-length documentary, for thousands of heartbreaking stories about kids who alleged that they were bullied and later became the bully. Which led to terrible consequences, like suicide, mental illness, and prison sentences. But the sad fact is that the definition of bullying remains somewhat disputed.
Some school presentations say kids who bully are insecure and do this to boost their ego. But for me, I think this generation of kids feels like they have nothing to lose, so most of them make poor life choices which leads them to negative behaviors and criminal behaviors. Some are induced through drugs, followed by gang violence and killing. Today kids see this and think it’s just cool to join a gang and kill but they don’t understand the consequences that kind of behavior leads to. Others fear death, hard prison time, and even rival gang members threatening their families.
In conclusion, some people do interviews to try and help kids learn about themselves. Identify their strengths and weaknesses so they can begin to live life on their terms. They help them turn a new leaf in life so they can avoid the pitfalls of serving time in prison and or doing something else to mess up their lives. Through the TRIPS program, I can reach young kids to help them before they walk down the path of being a bully or being bullied. Because I was one of them, now all I want to do is help other kids avoid the drama. As a result of my bullying experience, I will not be attending my homecoming, prom, or graduation celebrations with my peers because I’ll be studying at home. But I believe that my life is in God’s hands now and as long as I still have my freedom and my sanity, I can avoid being bullied or beaten and study at home.