.: Big Bullies :.

Recently, the news of a thirteen year old being bullied by her classmate caused an uproar when a three-minute video of the incident was uploaded on Youtube. She was bullied by several other female students who assaulted her by hitting her on her head with books, strangling her with a tie and cutting her hair off.

The victim’s mom quoted that it broke her heart when she saw her daughter returning home with her hair cut in such a manner, and she never expected that the bullying could have gone this far. It seems that the bullies had known the victim since primary school days and had attacked her multiple times prior to this incident. The victim, out of fear that the bullies would retaliate against her, choose to kept silence of the situation. It was claimed that the teachers in school knew about the bullying, but did not intervened to make right the situation.

The bullies have since apologized to the victim, and as newspaper reports this morning, they were suspended from school for two weeks. A decision was made for the victim to transfer school nearby.

Although I have not personally endured being bullied in school, it is something personal to me. My brother have been a victim of bullying during his early secondary days, and tho it is much milder compared to what some of his friends had to endure, bullying should NOT be tolerated, regardless of magnitude. My parents took control of the situation very quickly and the bullying stopped almost immediately.

I had a close secondary school mate who was also a victim of bully even until his late secondary school days. He was singled out and picked because of his skin colour. The thing is, the bullies would abuse him verbally more than physically. It affected him so much that I believe that at one point in time, he wanted to just drop out of school. Again, thankfully with his mom’s intervention, the bullying (tho not immediately) gradually stopped.

For the case of the girl, my brother and my friend, it helped that the problem was resolved at a much earlier stage. Yes, as horrible as the situation may sound, it could have been worse, and life could have been lost.

For most of the ongoing bullying, the victims are still suffering in silence. As much as they are responsible and accountable for themselves, we, as parents, teachers or friends should help take actions in helping the victim of bullies. Try first to talk nicely to the perpetrator. If it fails, report it to the authorities AND be very insistence and persistence about it. If they brush you off, report the matter to an even higher authority.

For the victims, DO NOT fight fire with fire and retaliate with violence, it often worsen the situation that corrects it. For the people who witness/know of situations where others are bullied, DO NOT have the if-it-doesn’t-happen-to-me-it’s-not-my-problem mentality. Instead, look at it from the perspective of if you’re in the victim’s shoes, how would you want people around you to help.

And we cannot ignore

Whenever we see the signs

'Cause any kinda of abuse

God knows is a crime

How come, how long

It's not right, it's so wrong

Do we let it just go on

Turn our backs and carry on

Wake up, for it's too late

Right now, we can't wait

She won't have a second try

Open up your hearts

As well as your eyes

How Come, How Long – Babyface