very day thousands of kids wake up afraid to go to school. Bullying is a problem that has affected millions of students and it has everyone worried. If you saw bullying, what would you do to stop it? Would you stand by and let it happen, take part in it or try to stop it? Not many students think about this, and that’s part of the problem. There are many reasons why kids get bullied. Some kids get bullied because of their appearance, and other's get bullied because of their social status.

‘Treat others the way you want to be treated.’ That’s the Golden Rule and it should be followed in every aspect of your life. If someone was in a position to stop you from being bullied and did nothing, how would you feel? If you find that unacceptable, you must do everything you can to stop others from hurting people. It doesn't take much to stand up for someone who may be weak, someone who is afraid to stick up for themselves because they know it will only make things worse. It could put a smile on someone's face by letting them know that you're on their side, that they have done nothing wrong to deserve to get treated the way they do and that they deserve to be nothing but happy.

Most people aren't aware of how much pain these victims feel everyday. They go to school knowing they're going to be hurt and they see no way out. When victims see no way of escaping from getting bullied, they often choose to do something as tragic as ending their own life. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24. No one, no matter what age they may be, deserves to ever think that attempting suicide is okay. No one should feel like they have to end their lives in order for all their pain to go away. Suicide only makes things worse and bullying shouldn't lead someone to wanting to kill themselves. The death of a young person is always a waste of life, so how many more lives must be wasted before something is done?

Many bullies share some common characteristics. They like to dominate others and they are generally focused on themselves. They often have poor social skills and poor social judgment. Sometimes they lack feelings of empathy or caring toward other people. They may have problems of their own so their only way of escaping that awful feeling of loneliness is by making themselves feel superior to everybody else. People may consider something like mocking someone funny, even though it is anything but funny to the victim. Small jabs are taken every day and can add up to a lot of pain and suffering. While it may seem innocent to the person taking the shots, th effect of these daily jabs could be devastating. In addition to that, as the pain increases, each jab cuts a little deeper.

Bullying is happening everywhere, even at your own school. You may not see it, you may not know it is there, but it is happening and it causes unimaginable pain to the victims. I strongly believe that it is the responsibility of students to protect their classmates and to show everyone the dignity and respect they would like to be treated with. If someone is hurting another person, they will not stop unless someone stands up for the victim and tells their tormentor to stop. Bullying has become a very serious problem over the past few years and it must come to an ending solution. Just think about it: How would you feel if YOU were the one getting bullied everyday? Wouldn't you want it to stop? Wouldn't you want someone to stick up for you and let you know that there is someone out there who actually cares about you and your feelings? People need to come together and show bullies that they won't let their harsh words hurt them. They won't let someone bring them down because they have done nothing wrong to get treated the way that they do. Do something about it to make it stop.