It has been said that “Words scar.  Rumors destroy.  Bullies kill.”  Those words are far too accurate in our daily lives. Personally, I don’t hear those words a lot, but it does not mean they are not said throughout the world.  We hear suicide stories all the time and one of the leading causes of suicide is bullying.  Why do people think they need to be mean to others?  Do they realize that they are “killing” them?  Cyberbullying is a huge problem arising among younger aged people that needs to be stopped.  There are statistics showing how awful the circumstances of bullying can be.  Also the brutal horrific stories we all hear far too often.

There are many ways someone could die, but according to bullying and suicide of bullying statistics, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people.  Did you know that 14% of high school students have considered committing suicide?  Stated up above. And 7% have attempted it.  Half of those numbers are caused by bullying.  At my school I haven’t witnessed  much bullying occur. Whereas other schools, 70.6% of students said that they have seen bullying in their school.  Only a small portion of kids intervene when they see bullying.  If they do, the bullying stops within 10 seconds 57% of the time stated by bullying and suicide of bullying statistics. Bullying doesn’t just happen in schools it also takes place on the internet, which we know as cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is flat out cruel.  People think they can get away with it because they are on the internet, but that needs to change. Merriam-Webster’s definition of cyberbullying states “The electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (as a student) often done anonymously.”  That’s about spot on. As of about 2010, cyberbullying has really spiked tremendously. It did not happen very much before 2010 because there wasn’t much use of electronics . A little less than half, at 42%, is the percent of people that have been bullied online.  35% of online users have been threatened of something bad.  Just over half of online users said that they have said hurtful things online, as claimed by cyber safety on nobullying.  Parents are trying to stop this horrible thing by: Keeping all computers or devices in the living room, telling kids not to give out personal information, and discussing while informing them about cyberbullying.

With all these cases of bullying there are stories, cringing stories.  At the young ages of 11-15 is when people start to get bullied, but the bullying stories we hear are becoming more like suicide stories.  Kelly, a young girl, 14 years old was receiving hate messages.  They were going on for a while until she decided to stop them herself in a horrible manner.  Kelly hung herself in her own bathroom.  Could you imagine coming home to find like that?   Even younger at the age of 12, Bethany decided to end her life from a year of non-stop bullying.  There was this 13 year old girl named Kendall that was being teased for being six feet tall; she had no way of controlling her height.  Our bodies change whether we want them to or not.  The people that teased her made her feel horrible towards herself.  So Kendall decided to end her own life by swallowing a bunch of painkillers. All of these stories were told by bullying stories on nobullying.  Nobody should have to feel that way and harm themselves as a result of those feelings.

There are so many statistics that show what bullying can do.  Along with stories of bullying and cyberbullying.  We all need to face the fact that bullying leads to death.  The bullies torment the victim until they feel useless or like someone who does not even want to be living anymore.  Bullying needs to be stopped as soon as possible. “Words scar. Rumors destroy. Bullies kill.”  Unfortunately these words have too much truth behind them.  The scary thing today is people aren’t protected at home anymore because of cyberbullying.  People just get glued to their devices which makes them perfect targets.  But we need to stop that and make sure it doesn’t happen.  Bullying can be stopped eventually and it will with your help.