With the recent shooting spree by that 22 year old ignored virgin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, I want to write about my feelings on the effects of being bullied.
How did so many of these incidents come about over the past 15 years? Since Columbine, the subject of bullying, and the consequences that people of all types suffer, have been analyzed. Government programs have been setup to stop the practice of bullying (www.stopbullying.gov), psychological associations are in place to deal with the effects of those that are or have suffered the pains of being mistreated through bullying, and educational programs have been implemented to teach and inform individuals in all facets of the school system: administrators, school faculty, teachers and students. There are even categorizations that exist currently, thanks to technology being accessed across the masses. Those who are bullied, not only have to fear regular old bullying, but also cyberbullying as well. What a toll that must take on those suffering, often in silence.
Two great definitions of BULLY that I pulled from www.google.com reads as follows:
- (noun) A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.
-(verb) Use superior strength or influence to intimidate, typically to force someone to do what one wants.
This strength, described above, could be physical, psychological, intellectual or social. I do feel for those weaker individuals who suffer tremendously from bullying. It isn't fair, to be sure. Yet the adventure that is life is not fair. I feel for those people because of how they are treated, but even moreso because the strength that they do have within themselves is close to being extinguished. That extinguishment of inner strength can be observed in this latest massacre in California. I don't know all of the details about it, but I read that the 22 year old desired to shoot and kill sorority sisters at their house at UCSB. I don't need to know the details to see what some of his many problems were sparked from. A) Being creepy weird. B) Possessing an arrogant, pompous front (most likely as a defense mechanism). C) A sense of entitlement. D) More than likely, limited social skills. I watched his youtube video, which was his verbal manifesto describing why he was going to commit this atrocity of taking human lives as a result of jealousy, envy and a life of rejection that led to utter loneliness.
Giving in like that is the TRUE weakness. Letting your twisted thoughts cloud thoughts of hope and climbing out of the psychological hole that you've been pushed into and have proceeded to dig yourself deeper into is the ultimate mark of weakness. Your goal, as a person who either is being bullied at the present time, or who has been bullied in the past, is to overcome and raise yourself to heights that your bullies would never dream of reaching. Being bullied by the bully is not the worst part one experiences. The worst portion is the personal torture you mentally put yourself through by accepting their label upon you, instead of standing up for yourself. You can't allow yourself to defend yourself, and instead you wade through the negative thoughts and personal doubts that mix together, creating a potent and dangerous cocktail of fear, desire for retribution, self hatred and hopelessness.
There is more hope for you than you can ever realize. You can use the terrible feelings to drive you towards success, and if you have great and loving parents, you have probably heard before that the best way to get back at someone is to succeed. Success breeds envy, as can be seen through this latest tragedy in the long line of them related to being picked on since 1999. Find whatever pain you feel, and when you find it, when you are in those depths, decide to overcome. Literally, when you are in the midst of the down period of your mental state, you have the power to CHANGE YOUR MIND and take action towards raising up. You cannot, as a living human being, accept defeat from being picked on or bullied. That is a coward's way out. Those bullies that are even doing that to you also have warped minds. A true stand up individual treats everyone great, and makes everyone around them rise on some level. Bullies don't have that quality. Well, at least they haven't developed it. Anyone can develop it though, with the proper desire and focus. You alone hold the key to get out of whatever mental prison you are in. You've been a victim if you've been bullied, yet you have kept yourself a victim. Stand up and defend yourself. Verbally or physically (with fists alone, I don't promote using any weapons of any sort besides your own 2 fists), your routes are available if you open your mind. Learn. Build. Succeed. Overcome. Get to the top. The option is there.
Weakness is defined as a quality or feature that prevents someone or something from being effective or useful. Why would you, in this stage of human evolution, let someone else, or even worse, let your own thoughts, prevent you from being effective in YOUR OWN LIFE. I was picked on as a kid, rejected many times before as well. It could have broken me, but life is funny. People say that life is short. That is horse shit. It is very, very long if you are lucky. I used most of my memories to keep myself going, to keep striving. You can, too. There are so many roads in which you can, at this weakened moment or state in your life, travel down.
Take the high road and start catching up.
How did so many of these incidents come about over the past 15 years? Since Columbine, the subject of bullying, and the consequences that people of all types suffer, have been analyzed. Government programs have been setup to stop the practice of bullying (www.stopbullying.gov), psychological associations are in place to deal with the effects of those that are or have suffered the pains of being mistreated through bullying, and educational programs have been implemented to teach and inform individuals in all facets of the school system: administrators, school faculty, teachers and students. There are even categorizations that exist currently, thanks to technology being accessed across the masses. Those who are bullied, not only have to fear regular old bullying, but also cyberbullying as well. What a toll that must take on those suffering, often in silence.
Two great definitions of BULLY that I pulled from www.google.com reads as follows:
- (noun) A person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.
-(verb) Use superior strength or influence to intimidate, typically to force someone to do what one wants.
This strength, described above, could be physical, psychological, intellectual or social. I do feel for those weaker individuals who suffer tremendously from bullying. It isn't fair, to be sure. Yet the adventure that is life is not fair. I feel for those people because of how they are treated, but even moreso because the strength that they do have within themselves is close to being extinguished. That extinguishment of inner strength can be observed in this latest massacre in California. I don't know all of the details about it, but I read that the 22 year old desired to shoot and kill sorority sisters at their house at UCSB. I don't need to know the details to see what some of his many problems were sparked from. A) Being creepy weird. B) Possessing an arrogant, pompous front (most likely as a defense mechanism). C) A sense of entitlement. D) More than likely, limited social skills. I watched his youtube video, which was his verbal manifesto describing why he was going to commit this atrocity of taking human lives as a result of jealousy, envy and a life of rejection that led to utter loneliness.
Giving in like that is the TRUE weakness. Letting your twisted thoughts cloud thoughts of hope and climbing out of the psychological hole that you've been pushed into and have proceeded to dig yourself deeper into is the ultimate mark of weakness. Your goal, as a person who either is being bullied at the present time, or who has been bullied in the past, is to overcome and raise yourself to heights that your bullies would never dream of reaching. Being bullied by the bully is not the worst part one experiences. The worst portion is the personal torture you mentally put yourself through by accepting their label upon you, instead of standing up for yourself. You can't allow yourself to defend yourself, and instead you wade through the negative thoughts and personal doubts that mix together, creating a potent and dangerous cocktail of fear, desire for retribution, self hatred and hopelessness.
There is more hope for you than you can ever realize. You can use the terrible feelings to drive you towards success, and if you have great and loving parents, you have probably heard before that the best way to get back at someone is to succeed. Success breeds envy, as can be seen through this latest tragedy in the long line of them related to being picked on since 1999. Find whatever pain you feel, and when you find it, when you are in those depths, decide to overcome. Literally, when you are in the midst of the down period of your mental state, you have the power to CHANGE YOUR MIND and take action towards raising up. You cannot, as a living human being, accept defeat from being picked on or bullied. That is a coward's way out. Those bullies that are even doing that to you also have warped minds. A true stand up individual treats everyone great, and makes everyone around them rise on some level. Bullies don't have that quality. Well, at least they haven't developed it. Anyone can develop it though, with the proper desire and focus. You alone hold the key to get out of whatever mental prison you are in. You've been a victim if you've been bullied, yet you have kept yourself a victim. Stand up and defend yourself. Verbally or physically (with fists alone, I don't promote using any weapons of any sort besides your own 2 fists), your routes are available if you open your mind. Learn. Build. Succeed. Overcome. Get to the top. The option is there.
Weakness is defined as a quality or feature that prevents someone or something from being effective or useful. Why would you, in this stage of human evolution, let someone else, or even worse, let your own thoughts, prevent you from being effective in YOUR OWN LIFE. I was picked on as a kid, rejected many times before as well. It could have broken me, but life is funny. People say that life is short. That is horse shit. It is very, very long if you are lucky. I used most of my memories to keep myself going, to keep striving. You can, too. There are so many roads in which you can, at this weakened moment or state in your life, travel down.
Take the high road and start catching up.