how would you like it?

This past month was National Bullying Prevention month. To start out, I'll give you some facts. Every day, an estimated 160,000 children miss school due to fear of being attacked or intimidated by other students. 56% of students have witnessed some time of bullying at school. 282,000 students are physically attacked in high schools each month. Bullying can take many forms and can be physical, verbal, or indirect. Physical bullying would be physically harming a person by hitting, kicking, ect. Damage to or taking someone's belongings can also fit into this category. Verbal bullying would be name calling, insulting, or using sexually suggestive or abusive language. Indirect bullying would be spreading rumors about someone, or excluding them. Cyber bullying, "any type of bullying that is carried out by electronic medium,"  is technically a part of indirect bullying. The worst part about bullying is that even though you think what you're saying is just a joke, the person you're saying it to might take it harder than that. A lot of the time, bullying leads to people making drastic decisions, like suicide. Bully victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. One victim that fell into this category was Phoebe Prince. She was a fifteen-year-old girl who moved to Massachusetts from Ireland. She fit in at first, but it wasn't long after when she became the target of bullying. Things were thrown at her, she was threatened and many would call her "Irish Slut." On January 14, 2010, Phoebe decided she had enough and hung herself in her closet. Making a person go this far is a crazy idea. It's unlikely that a person is going to quit teasing others, but when you tease a person, think of how it might affect them. Think of how you would like it. Think twice.

make good choices, leave good lives

for more information:
http://www.makebeatsnotbeatdowns.org/facts_new.html