First-Hand Witness
When I was in 6th grade I was a witness of bullying. I was walking through the halls when I saw a bully throw an obviously weaker and smaller boy against the brick walls.
I was shocked; how could someone hurt another in such a violent way? It was a cold and wintry afternoon, when It was time for lunch-which to any elementary student would be the highlight of the day. As I walked through the halls, oblivious to the world’s cruelty, my hunger the worst of my worries, I hear a young boy’s whimpering-my oblivion now broken. His actions were subtle and his voice was small, adding to the affect that he appeared to be weaker. As I turned around, to my discovery a bigger boy towers over his scrawny victim and pushes him to the wall. He shakes the boy, spits as he yells manipulatively at his face, making sure to engrave in his victim’s mind that he is bigger and therefore superior.
Fear creeps through the boy’s eyes but his face passively tries to deny the horrendous action that is being done to him. The other kids watched, some of them being as young and innocent as kindergarteners, who still possessed childhood innocence and did not understand what the world had in store for them. Furthermore what kind of message does this send to the younger generation: is it okay to harm or victimize others simply because of their miniscule and insignificant differences? This also puts to test their security that their elders guarantee them, their safety that their teachers and parents ensure, when being away from the comforts of their home. I stand there stunned to what flashed before my eyes, but what was I to do, a scrawny student myself? The villainous boy and his prey go through a round of tug-of-war, first with his coat, then his scarf-his remaining source of warmth- and on to his backpack; the bully pulled the victim’s backpack and took whatever was inside, not caring of his consequences or the value of the smaller boy’s belongings. After my witnessing of this strange occurrence I come to an epiphany-respect is an important factor of the world that is necessary to come in to play, otherwise chaos will result.
School should be a safe environment that people feel comfortable to come to each day knowing that they will be cared for and noticed. Loneliness is something no one should go through because of their physical appearances or beliefs, because everybody needs a friend. All in all this experience changed my views of the world and made me question the safety of it. Although this was a sad event, through it I have learned the importance of communication and tolerance for one another play important roles in society-without these factors the human race is nothing but a race of animals and anarchy. The human race no longer supports one another but rather, it prefers to battle.
