Editorial+Marissa

Bullying Bullying. The word means, “to frighten, hurt, or threaten a smaller or weaker person”(Merriam-Webster’s). Now think for a second, have you ever been bullied? According to the National Institute of Health “people who are bullied as children are more likely to suffer from depression and low self esteem, well into adulthood, and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life.” In the past years, we have experienced an increase of suicides. This is partly because of bullying. Suicide may seem like a last resort for people to die but for bullied victims, they feel like they do not belong in society and are filled with a sense of loneliness. This was a case with Ryan Patrick Halligan. He was only fourteen years old when he took his own life. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, there were concerns about Ryan’s motor skills and speech. He received special education through fourth grade. Ryan soon realized that he was not as academically and physically strong as his classmates and he was bullied for it. Although this was “only by words” as his parents put it, they told him to just ignore them. They saw a therapist to build up his self-esteem and by the end of the fifth grade, they stopped the session because Ryan’s self esteem was brought up. Everything seemed fine until the he went to middle school. Rather than the physical aspect of bullying, Ryan’s self esteem was hurt by the teasing, name-calling, and tormenting. In most cases and from a personal experience, it was not the physical aspect of the situation but it was the words that were being said that hurt my self-esteem. In middle school, Ryan struggles though the same academic problems and the same kids that bullied Ryan in elementary school, started to bully him again. There was talk about Ryan going back into a special education program but was never put to action. If Ryan was taken away from those kids that were bullying, Ryan might still be here today because he would not have to suffer through all of the verbal abuse from his classmates. In the seventh grade, Ryan’s problem on heightened. His parents firmly believed that this was just “kids being kids, a part of growing up (If Only We Knew).” For a normal child, this might have been the case, but because Ryan had a problem with his speech, language, and motor skills, the parents might have wanted to pay closer attention to his problem. Children at this age are easily persuaded and believe majority of things they are told. If the child is constantly put down put down and told that they are not good enough, they may start to lose confidence in themselves. They might even think that anyone loves them. Years later, in Ryan’s teen life his social life completely turned around. He was now friends with the people that bullied him as a child and he participated in swimming, camping, skateboarding, biking, snowboarding, playing computer games and instant messaging (If Only We Knew). Ryan was finally enjoying life. During the summer of 2003, Ryan spent a great amount of time on the computer. A few days after his funeral, his mom went on to his AOL IM account that found that he has been cyber bullied for the past couple of months. This probably played a huge contributing role in taking his life. Technology has been utilized as weapons since it has been created and it is a much more effective way of reaching people from all over the world. Ryan’s mother said, “I believed bullying through technology has the effect of accelerating and amplifying the hurt to levels that will probably result in a rise in teen suicide rates. We need to be aware of what we say to children because things that are meant to be jokes are really the truth. It does not matter what our intentions were, but it is how the statement is interpreted by the person who the statement was meant for.

Bibliography "Bullying." Dictionary and Thesaurus Merriam Webster Online. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bullying "Ryan's Story." Ryan's Story Presentation. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. <http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan