Final Exam                                                                  

                                   Lasting effects of bullying

Bullying can affect the individual in more ways than one would think. Anyone, whether young or old who has ever been bullied knows how bullying can truly impact a person’s life. A person can feel the effects of bullying in various ways. Bullying can affect someone physically, emotionally, and/ or mentally depending on the severity of the bullying. The lasting effects of being bullied can impact a person anywhere. Specific places may resurface bad memories for some people, like old schools or houses where they were bullied. Also, for the victims of bullying that could no longer cope with the pain, their graves display the lasting effects of bullying. The lasting effects of bullying starts to impact an individual after the initial pain and shock has boiled over. It doesn’t take long for bullying to affect a person for the rest of their life. People are so affected by bullying because after constant day after day of being made fun of and tormented, those horrible memories never go away. Since bullying can be a very traumatic experience, the impacts on a person are quite traumatic as well. Being bullied can change a person’s life, it breaks you down piece by piece and you’re never the same after.

Bullying can have multiple lasting effects on a person. These effects can impact the victims mentally, physically, and/or emotionally. Many people think that bullying is over once words are said and beatings are given, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact the effects of bullying continue to haunt it’s victims for as long as they live. There are many effects of bullying shortly after it is done, but the lasting effects alone have been proven to be even more severe. Studies show that people bullied as kids are less mentally healthy as adults. Bullying victims, also have an increased suicide risk, depression, poor school performance, and low self-esteem. One study, specifically researching the long term effects of bullying was presented in 2010 at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association concluded that          “Pure victims of bullying, were at higher risk, for depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia in adulthood than children uninvolved in bullying.”  As a victim of bullying myself, I concur with the results of this study. It’s been about four years since I was bullied consistently each day. The things that I’m dealing with now from my bullying experience bother and continue to haunt me every single day. Since my bullying experience I have developed an OCD like behavior and social anxiety. I deal and try to overcome these problems every day, which is a very hard thing to do.  I also am still struggling with major self- esteem issues.  Even to this day I have a hard time believe that I’m not ugly or weird, but it’s hard to just forget what I was told every single day for an entire school year.  Though like many others, I’m beginning to heal, although I will never fully be able to recover, because the memories of all the torment will always linger with me. So dealing with the many problems that I’m dealing with now, I know that bullying has many lasting effects, and that I’m going to have to deal with these problems for the rest of my life as many other people will have to as well.

Although the lasting effect of bullying on me wasn’t nearly as bad as the lasting effect that bullying has on others. The most permanent and all too often lasting effect of bullying is sadly, suicide. On the news lately there have been many reports of teenagers who have been driven into suicide due to the horrific bullying they were subjected to.  Many people believe that suicide is a very extreme way of dealing with bullying. Although, those people have most likely never dealt with any form of bullying before themselves. Being teased and made fun of day after day breaks down any strength a person possibly has left. Some people aren’t strong enough to deal with constant torment, and the only way they think the bullying will ever stop is to leave this world.  It’s sad to think that some people feel this way, but a lot of people sadly do. Suicide is the most severe lasting effect there is. One of the saddest and local suicide cases as a result of bullying is the death of Phoebe Prince. Formerly from the United Kingdom, the Prince family migrated to South Hadley, Massachusetts in 2010 to live the American dream. Although on January 14, 2010 Phoebe gave up her fight. After being bullied viciously for several months by two groups of students at South Hadley High School,  she could no longer take the pain. The final straw that pushed Phoebe over the edge was when one of her bullies drove by her and threw a can at her head and said “Go kill yourself.”  Sadly that’s just what she did. Phoebe grabbed a scarf and hung herself in her family home, later to be discovered by her younger sister. In this case the lasting effect of bullying on Phoebe was her death, and not only did the bullying impact her but it also impacted her sister, who discovered her older sister’s dead body.  The lasting effects not only impact the victim but also the people closest to the victim as well. When a victim takes their own life, their death affects their family and friends for as long as they live as well.  Statistics say that “four thousand victims of bullying commit suicide each year”. For me, that statistic is far too many helpless lives gone that could’ve been saved.

            Bullying has gone on for far too long, and it’s getting much worse as time goes on. Although, I believe teenagers and my generation are the most likely to stop this vicious cycle of torment and pain. I believe teenagers can stop this bullying trend if they gain some useful qualities. Once teenagers gain compassion and understanding that’s when my generation will finally end the trend of bullying. Once people are able to except and look past the differences in one another instead of making fun of each other, that’s when teenagers will be on their way to stopping this cruel trend. Also, I believe that if teenagers are kind and nice to others, those positive influences will spread and reach people who truly need a bit of kindness in their lives. All in all, as the golden rule states, “if we treat others the way we would want to be treated” then bullying would be solved and teenagers could start to spread kindness instead of hate. This may sound cliché but it’s the truth; a little bit of kindness can go a long way, especially in trying to stop bullying.

       The impacts of bullying can be very severe and can result in numerous tragedies. Although, all these deaths and suffering could have been prevented. If people were tolerant and accepting, bullying and all these problems would never exist. Although bullying is a major part of today’s society, and increases as time goes on. Even though bullying is common in today’s society, I feel that it can easily be stopped. My generation I feel has the greatest chance of ending this common occurrence of bullying. My generation is arguably the most accepting, we are living in a world with so many ethnicities, cultures, and we’re co- existing with more and more people every day. Bullying is near its end, it may take a while but eventually, people will live in a world of acceptance without any bullying.