Bullying

March 15, 2012

Dear Mr. President,

                My name is Lauren. I am a student at Parkway West Middle School, and I am writing to you today to share my thoughts about the issue of bullying. I became interested in this topic because in my three years at middle school, I have seen or have been a part of bullying at least once in every year. I can tell you now, it was not fun. I appreciate what you and your wife have done to make the world aware, but clearly, we need to do more.

                To begin, and it pains me to do this, I would like to look back and remember April 20, 1999, Columbine High School. The reason I can't bare to look back on that day is because after I heard about it, I put myself in the students' shoes. I imagined seeing two boys shooting people; students and teachers alike running, screaming through the hallways. Than I put myself in the shooters shoes. I imagined what could have possibly happened to those boys to make them react this violently, hating their lives, thinking that this would solve all their problems. and finally, I put myself in the parents shoes when they found out their sons or daughters were one of the thirteen killed. I did some digging and found that the two boys who did this were in fact bullied, though this comes at no surprise. Now this was an extreme case, but sometimes we need to look at the extremes to see what could happen. obviously, bullying can lead kids to do terrible, vicious things.

                In seventh grade, I admit, I was a weird very peculiar child. I did some things that people called me names about. in the hallways people would say, "Hey, look out here comes that psycho chick." it hurt. I would go home, cry into my pillow, and take my anger out on my mom, who was only trying to help me. a few times I considered suicide. Luckily, I had someone in my life to help me see that life was worth living. I would not be here today if that friend hadn't been there for me. unfortunately, not all kids have a friend they can vent to like I did, but we can't just let these kids fall by the waste side. We need to change the environments of our schools to make it clear that bullying is inexcusable.

                Please Mr. President, I urge you to end the malicious torment once and for all. To make it easier for a student who needs help, to get it, and easier for students who want to help, to stand up. Thank you for all you and your wife already do.

 

Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                                                                              Lauren

Parkway West Middle School

Ballwin, MO

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