Silenced by Presley

Silenced by Presley - September 2021 Scholarship Essay

“Be careful what you do, because the lie becomes the truth.” - Michael Jackson

I believed that ignoring, and hoping that bullies would simply go away was the mature way to do things. Instead, it just escalated things to a point where my beliefs were challenged, and for the best too.

Being yourself in a small community is considered irregular if you don’t comply with certain features or the way you spoke to another. In some cases, even bullied for not liking sports as a boy, or being more outspoken as a girl. People tell lies all the time, in most cases, it’s to make themselves look cool, while making the victim appear repugnant, because of a lie that was told over, and over again. People start to believe that lie, and take it as a factual thing.

Growing up, I wasn’t taught that we should stand up for victims, and ourselves who are suffering from bullying. For me, ignoring the bullying would hopefully go away, of course that didn’t work. Now knowing that taunting someone and spreading false allegations to make everyone target the person is wrong, and doing nothing does not help a thing, rather it can make the victim feel more lonely and feel like it’s their fault.

Usually, the bullies are insecure about something, or they’re having family troubles. Therefore, by taking it out on those who are quiet and are easily targeted, that would fill that void and increase their ego.

年后,搬到一个农村,我的贝尔iefs were challenged. A different family, and a different school. My family taught me that I should stand up for myself, yet I never listened. Instead I allowed myself to get bullied by classmates at school. I was considered different, in a bad way, by the way I spoke and dressed.

之前告诉我的家人,我一直得到bullied by kids in school, and even on the bus. They called the school, there was no way getting out of this. I had to tell some teachers about the incidents, “Oh, they’ll grow up.” But I had to point the bullies out, and tell them what happened exactly.

Now, as a senior, I realize that was for the best. No one deserves to be bullied for being different. It has changed my mindset, and I do thank the kids who bullied me, because if it wasn’t for them, I would have the same beliefs that ignoring them would solve everything.

I can most definitely relate to a victim who is being bullied, and stand up for them, because they may have the beliefs I once had. What I learned from my previous beliefs was that staying silent only causes the situation to escalate, and by standing up for myself, and for what is right, can help myself, and most importantly, it can help someone who thinks the way I did.