November editorials: Beware of the bully, but not the bullied

Blowing someone else’s candle doesn’t make yours shine brighter.

It’s 10 o’ clock, the school recess bell just rung. It’s like a thunderstorm down the school hallway. A parade of student’s stampede out of their class and head for the green field. It feels like the whole school has emptied… the whole school except one guy. That one guy sits at the back of his class along with his companions, the spider webs and the thrown chocolate wrappers. The sketches on his table read, “YOU ARE A LOSER!”, all caps. This “guy” is scared even when there’s no one watching a horror movie. This guy shivers, even when its 40 degrees outside… This “guy” has been bullied!

Bullying is something that occurs quite naturally in every niche, where a student (or a group of them) has a significant dominance over another. Younger kids tend to fall prey to this quite easily, but this does not mean that older kids don’t get bullied, it’s just the approach that changes towards it. Older kids get told that ragging and bullying are a part and parcel of our lives and that we must learn to get used to it… and that’s where the problem begins. No one likes being used to getting themselves picked upon in front of their crushes!

Harassment and torture are not something to be endured. Keeping the pain and apathy within oneself does not solve the problem in any way, rather it adds to it. It’s a lot like those water-hose problems we get in Physics. Try blocking the pipe when the water flows through it. The pressure keeps on building up until…. THWACK! The pipe bursts. It’s quite scary to think about yourself bursting up, isn’t it! The likely odds of you recovering from bullying by not speaking about it to your well-wishers is 0.00!

A common query you may have in mind is that “Why is it not prohibited by school authorities if it's potentially considered as a crime”? The answer, well, why don’t you ask them? Why not ask the school about it? Seeking help from your teachers, supervisors, and principals is possibly the simplest of all solutions you could ever come up with (even easier than suicide)! What’s the point of saying “school is your second home” if you can’t seek help from it anyway? But when it comes to this, many of us turn into that meek little goat we see always hiding in its mother’s shadow.

The two major schools of thoughts (pun intended) that comes to one’s mind is 1. What would my teachers and friends think about me? And 2. If I’d complain about him/her, everyone would think I’m a snitch and I would make fewer friends. Sounds kid-ish doesn’t it?

And now, what you all had been reading for so long, the solution! Firstly, your friends and teachers would not think anything about you. Even if they do, you would never know! The very fact that you dared to stand up for yourself after getting bullied, which probably many of your friends wouldn’t ever have, is just commendable.

Secondly, to all those who call you a snitch, tell them that, “A snitch in time, saves lives”! You don’t need to appease anyone and apologize just because you stood up for yourself and against him/her. And if you succeed in your endeavor, you would certainly make more friends and if you wait long enough, the bully would have no other choice but to become your friend too.

It’s not about getting bigger than the bully, it’s about getting smarter than him. When the bully would know that messing with you isn't a child’s play anymore, he would bring his acts to an end.

In conclusion, once you realize that the bully is just another kid of your age who tries to act big, you would never pay much attention to it. Like, they say, “The toughest battle which man will ever fight, is with his mind”. And to all the bullies reading this, let’s just say thank you to them for giving us the courage to find out who we are. Let them talk behind your back and tease you all they want because that’s the place where they belong…behind you!

A great sage once said that time, tide and Netflix never wait for anyone. So, let’s call it a day. A day when we realized that when someone tries to bring us down, they very well know that you stand way above them!

BY-

AARYAN SINHA

12-H