Story by: Yves Adele Harlow Reporter
All right, this is yet another story connected to Columbine. People tease and bother each other all the time, no matter what age they are and one person eventually snaps. People snap in different ways. Some yell and just get the anger out of their system, others fight their tormentor, and some decide that it’s a good idea to bomb places and shoot people.
What’s the use of bothering people? What does it accomplish? Nothing, that’s what. Sure, everyone does it to someone else in their lifetime, but I think that people who continuously bully other people are the worst of them all. I blame those people for all the school shootings and major disasters like Columbine. I really don’t see what is the point of making fun of someone. You can only damage that person whether they show it or not.
Let’s talk about the victims. For instance, there is this one freshman named Brett Harding who has been teased ever since he moved to Taylortucky in the eighth grade. No one liked him at all and I don’t really see what is their problem. Brett is a nice guy and he never intentionally bothers anybody. It seems like he bothers people by just breathing though.
I remember one particularly cruel prank, if that’s what you want to call it, that someone pulled on him in the eighth grade. Supposedly during 3rd hour, someone saw Brett doing something to himself that he shouldn’t have been if you catch my drift. So that person told the teacher and she took Brett out into the hall and talked to him about it. After a while it was determined that Brett in fact has not done that to himself during class.
Now, the teachers had been noticing what was being done to Brett, other than the accusation that I just wrote about, and so they decided to talk to the students (the school was divided up into 6 groups and we were group 8C) about Brett. They held a meeting in the band room and talked to us for half an hour about what we were doing to Brett and how mean it was to make fun of him. They spared him the humiliation and sent him to the office so he wouldn’t know about the meeting and we were told not to mention anything about the meeting to Brett. I feel bad for Brett because no one still likes him. One of these days, he could snap and be one of those nuts out there who wants to bomb places. Do you honestly want another person to turn out like that? I don’t.
Here’s a bully. She’s a junior named Nia Tyler who has been making fun of everyone in one way or another and especially me because I hardly talk. “Why are you so quiet? You seem like a goody-goody. Ah, but that’s probably only in school. When you go home you probably wear fishnet stockings and prowl the sidewalks looking for a guy.” Sure, I realize she was joking, but I really don’t like her talking about me like that all the time.
Okay now for the snapping part. I think that everyone reading this knows that we all snap at one time or another in different ways. I know I have. I’m always so calm and I take Nia’s bullying well, I think. But one day I was in a particularly bad mood and Nia, Tenga Petreax, and Marvin Roberts were bugging me. Nia in the way she always does, Tenga by asking me stupid questions and Marvin by poking me every once in a while with a pencil. When I didn’t do anything, Tenga and Nia got tired and stopped. Marvin kept trying to get on my nerves. Well, he did.
I hate being poked and that’s what Marvin was doing. He wouldn’t stop even when I told him to. I really don’t remember thinking about it, but I snapped. I turned around really quick and I hit Marvin’s hand. I was going to actually punch him, but luckily I didn’t. He did jump back though. Tenga and Nia said, “Whoa!” No one is used to me being like that and niether am I. There was one second where I would have punched Marvin and would not have cared. I didn’t really realize what I was doing until after I hit his hand.
To this day, I really don’t care about hitting Marvin. I think he deserved it. I actually laugh when I think about that day because of the look on Tenga, Nia, and Marvin’s faces. They were in shock. That just goes to show you how quickly and without warning someone can lose their control. How unexpected it is after you have tormented someone for so long and you’re used to them doing nothing about it.
Well to you people being tormented; to the Bretts out there in the world: you have a way out. Tell someone. Don’t worry about being a snitch. Tell a principal about what people are doing to you because it is harassment. They can get in trouble for doing that and it wouldn’t be your fault. Okay, so some of them would be mad and you’re afraid that they’ll come after you. You can take care of that too. Tell the principal that they’ll come after you and they have already threatened to beat you up and the principal, depending on his competence, will take care of it. You could have your classes changed or the principal could tell the bully that he will be suspended if he hits you. There’s no reason why you should have to deal with bullies on your own.
I wouldn’t want to be a person who blows up schools and shoots fellow students. I’m sure you don’t either. Just forget your worries and tell someone about being harassed. Now more than ever, teachers and administrators are more likely to help you and keep bullies from harassing and attacking you. They are worried for the safety and well-being of all students in their school and they will do whatever they can to stop another Columbine, even here in Taylortucky High.
To you people who are bullies: What are you thinking? You might think you’re tough and cool because you’re hurting someone else, but you’re not. People like you are what caused Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two people who shot students at Columbine, to do what they did. I guarantee these people who intentionally hurt Eric and Dylan are now sorry that they bothered them so much. I bet those bullies are ashamed, wherever they are now, because they are what caused all this chaos at Columbine. They finally, too late, found out what their tormenting was really worth. So think about that next time you bully someone because you could be what makes that person turn into Eric and Dylan.
To everyone reading this, whoever you are, let’s all try to make the world a better place where students don’t have to worry about their safety at school, where people in buildings with their young children don’t have to worry about being bombed. We shouldn’t have to worry about these things and I for one, won’t stand for it.