BULLYING SHOULD BE STOPPED!

“My classmates put a bucket over my head, then they took turns hitting me. It really hurts me. Not only that, they also call me fat and black. I really depressed at that time that I almost commit to suicide.” said Tika, a 14-years-old Javanese girl. She had no idea why she has to suffer from that situation until she realized that she had been bullied for years. There were thousand cases of bullying happened in Indonesia. Tika’s case is only one of them. A survey done by OECD shows that 41% of Indonesian students has experienced bullying. Basically, bullying is an action done by a person or group of people (mostly among the teenagers), which can hurt someone either physically or emotionally. Bullying possibly occurs anywhere but frequently is at school.  According to the data, I can say that bullying has been a serious issue lately, especially in Indonesia. If it’s not handled immediately, the number of bullying cases might keep raising up. It’s not just about the number, bullying should be stopped because it can cause several problems, particularly to the victim. 

First, bullying can cause a variety of psychological disorders. When someone is being bullied, they are at increased risk to suffer from depression, anxiety, eating disorder e.g. bulimia and else. They may also become a person with a low self-esteem  and lose all of their enthusiasm on doing things. This is really worrying because it can lead to an even greater problem which is suicidal. 

Second, bullying can mess up someone’s future. It’s an undeniable fact that the victim of bullying are more likely to drop out from school. We know that school should be a place where student can learn and develop their talents peacefully. However, the victims of bullying tend to think that school is a scary place full of ‘monsters’. They find it is really torturing to be at school. That’s why some of them decided to drop out from school because they think it is safer for them. Even if they choose to survive school, generally, the bullied students will show lower academic performances compared to the students who are uninvolved in bullying. 

Third, bullying can cause social problems to the victim. Classmates and school friends usually support each other as they are on the same purpose –to complete education. However, the victims of bullying think otherwise. They feel that the more people around them is the more they feel isolated. They tend to avoid any social interactions because they are worried to be bullied. Moreover, it’s  hard for them to trust someone while we know that developing trust is important in friendship. That’s also the reason why they can’t maintain their relationships with people.

Since there are tons consequences of bullying, it must be taken more seriously by parents, teachers, and even the governments. What I’ve mentioned above are only a few, while there are so many other bad effects of bullying. I think no one deserves to be bullied. Every human being should be treated equally and with respect. 

- Written by Sharyn Anastasia XIA3/26