Middletown High School students proudly signed a banner displayed in the cafeteria stating that they ” accept Rachel’s Challenge.” The Rachel’s Challenge program came to MHS in October to start a chain reaction and take a stand against bullying. – Photo by Blair Donald

By Emma Trapp
Round Table editor

Going to school for Mason Blankenship (whose real name has not been used to protect his identity) was like being in a nightmare. In middle school Blankenship was tormented in numerous ways by his classmates. Blankenship got tired of the unfailing cruelty and took a drastic measure to make the pain stop.

“It got so bad that I attempted suicide. My attempt failed, and I’m glad of that. But not everyone can be as lucky as I am,” said Blankenship, now a Middletown High School student.

More than half of children and teenagers are bullied at one time in their lives. Ten percent of teens or children are bullied on a regular basis. The increase has not spiked in just physical ways, but verbal abuse has become a problem in high schools around America.

Suicide is the third leading death among teenagers. Now with the advance in technology there is more than one way to for someone to be verbally harassed.

Teenagers get bullied for anything; the color of their hair, their body shape, what they say. Parents just say, “Ignore them.” How can teenagers ignore something that follows them everywhere?

Students who are physically bullied have to look in the mirror every day feeling like they did something wrong. Students who are verbally bullied not only have to go to school and hear it all day, but with the advance in technology they can be bullied anywhere at anytime.

“Technology gives people a way to bully people without actually having to talk to the person face to face. It let’s you say things you wouldn’t normally say because you don’t have to be right in front of them and see the pain,” said an other anonymous student at MHS.

Texting, emailing, Facebook posting, and Twitter are some ways teens are constantly harassed.

The saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me,” is the farthest thing from the truth. So the leading question is, “how do we stop it?”

Not only do students need to take action and come together but so do parents. They need to accept the fact that their child is a bully, and they need to confront them. Parents need to raise their child, not be their friends.

It is a fantasy to think that all bullying will come to an end, but that doesn’t mean some bullying can’t be stop. Not only can we try and stop the bullies, but we can help the bullied.

Stopping bullying not only prevents the lives of the ones who are bullied but of innocent people who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The first thing that not only MHS, but schools all over the nation, needs to do is accept the fact that bullying does exist in the school. The school board needs to talk about it; they can’t ignore it any more.

Recently MHS had the program Rachel’s Challenge come and help start a chain reaction of kindness.

In October the teen suicide rate had drastically increased because of bullying. People all around the world wore purple to help bring together those who are bullied.

Teens who bully often have problems with their selves, and just like the bullied, the need to fit it, to be accepted. Bullies need to be given just as much help as the bullied.

A decrease in bullying would should a dramatic decrease in teen suicide. Everyone makes fun of someone at one time in their life; they would be lying if they said they didn’t.

So next time before saying something that would hurt someone’s feeling, take a moment and think, “How would I feel if someone said that to me?”

People don’t take into consideration the story behind why someone wears certain clothes or says certain things. Maybe some one wears a certain sweat shirt because it’s their dads and he  has passed away.

The country has suffered enough deaths; parents, friends and families don’t need to suffer any more from something that can be prevented by stopping bullying.