Now that we are at the tail end of Suicide Prevention month, I began to think about something that really hits home. You may have some ideas of where I am about to go with this, but maybe not.

Bullying! Something that many students have had to deal with at one time or another. I thought this would be a great time to tell my story. As a child, I was bullied for quite a few years all because of my last name – Black. Because others didn’t want to be bullied themselves, I didn’t have any friends. I felt like an outsider.

In elementary school all you want is to have friends to play with. I didn’t have that. I found myself crying all the time. I was never invited to birthday parties. I was never asked to jump rope or play ball. Normally I just sat on the swings all alone.

Things changed in middle school. Unfortunately, in the beginning it got worse. At times I even thought of ending my life, but thankfully I never went through with it. The bullying continued until one day I had enough and snapped. After that, I began to have friends and the life I had dreamed of.

It never crosses your mind how mean kids can be. But they are and they can affect you even into college and your adult life. Thoughts of suicide aren’t even a rare occurrence anymore, especially since nobody stands up to those bullies.

Let’s Make A Stand!

Stop Bullying!

Last school year alone, I heard of several students who left Colorado Mesa University because of this. This is ridiculous! We are here for an education, friends and to make memories we will cherish our whole life. We are all students here – we can make a change. We can at least put a stop to it at our own school. Would you say something? Would you do something? 

What would you do if you saw a student being bullied by another student or even a teacher?  Yes, even teachers can be guilty of this as we have seen in the news over the past few years. I asked a few students what they would do.

“If it looked out of line and it appeared as if the individual couldn’t hold their own, I would confront them,” Royal Haulman, a junior, said.

“If I noticed someone was being bullied I would step in.  Regardless of their reasoning, no one deserves that,” Megan Lawson, a junior and the opinions editor for The Criterion, said.

For me, I would stand up for the person being bullied.  I would do what was needed to stop it and prevent that person from going through it any more.

We must go beyond just the one month when it comes to prevention. We need to be vigilant at all times! So, again, ask yourself: What Would You Do?