Dear Future President,

Although I know that I, myself, have not had any encounters with bullying, I know lots of other people have. Most teens have been bullied or have even witnessed it. Some have even gone to extreme measures to make it stop. Meaning, an overdose in drugs, which can lead to a coma, or even committing suicide. But there are many different kinds of bullying that affect different people in many different ways. There is cyber, physical, social, and verbal. While it is a serious topic, bullying continues to occur in so many areas, proving that we need to work harder and do more to stop it.

When someone is getting bullied, they will do anything to make it stop. By hurting themselves. Anne Flaherty of the associated press stated, “The survey's findings come a week after two Florida girls, ages 12 and 14, were arrested on felony charges for allegedly bullying online a 12-year-old girl who later killed herself by jumping off a tower at an abandoned concrete plant.” They think it will take their pain away, but it won’t. All it does is hurt their family and friends around them. All they can think about all the time is what the bully says to them. Like if they are called “fat”, they will starve themselves to be skinny. If they are called “ugly”, they will go to different measure to be pretty. If they are called “a waste of space,” they will harm or even kill themselves to create space. This is what anyone wants. And it was the bullies fault. “‘He was only one of many young people who decided it was easier to commit suicide than to go to school the next day,’ said Karyl Ketchum.”

Lots of kids grew up with their family. They all love each other very much. They would do anything to protect them. Keep them from being sad or scared. But when you do something to harm yourself, all your doing is hurting yourself and people around you that care about you. Believe it or not, the pain is still there. It won’t go away if you do. It will stay with you until you do something about it to stop it. "It was actually quite embarrassing, to be honest," remembers Ball, now an 18-year-old college freshman. But "really, truly, if it wasn't for my parents, I don't think I'd be where I'm at today." If you tell your parents about what’s happening they can help you. ”It wasn't until Sarah's mom, who had access to her daughter's online passwords, saw the messages that the girl told her everything” stated Anne Flaherty. The sooner you tell someone, the sooner it can stop. The sooner you won’t suffer anymore.

Lots of things are already being done to stop bullying from happening. Many schools have assemblies to talk about bullying and the causes. Lots of schools have assemblies and talk about things that we can do to stop bullying from happening, or to report when seeing bullying. “More young people are telling their family members about being harassed or taunted online, and it's helping” Anne Flaherty stated. When you report being bullied, you can help them out so much, and even save their lives. Some may even play and educational video about someone who is being harassed in many different ways. The most common way that bullying is used, is through the internet, which is also known as cyber bullying. We need to continue to do these things until the bullying percentage is decreased to 0%. "I didn't want them to worry about me," Tinsley, now a college student in Fort Wayne, Indiana, said of her family. "There was a lot of stress at that time ... And I just didn't want the extra attention,” stated Tinsley. If you are suffering, then tell someone and they can help you fix the issue.

Kids are suffering all around the world. From emotional and physical pain. They don’t know what to do because they are too afraid to speak up. “More young people are telling their family members about being harassed or taunted online, and it's helping” (Anne Flaherty, of the Associated Press). They are being bullied, and aren’t doing anything about it. Sometimes it just becomes too much for them to handle and they will do anything to stop it. Such as hurting themselves. They think it will take away the pain but it won’t. Doing so, doesn’t just affect them. It affects everyone else around them too. Lot’s of things are being done to stop this from happening, but it is still occurring so obviously we aren’t doing enough. Bullying is a serious issue that needs to be stopped. So it’s up to you, Future President. These children’s lives are in your hands. What are you going to do to save these children and families? Are you going to continue to sit around and not do anything and let these children continue to be tortured? Or are you going to do something to help save these child's live and keep everyone safe?

Sincerely,

Annalise H.