'Just Kidding' and 'Ganging Up'

Rahni Johnson


‘Just Kidding’ and ‘Ganging Up’

When I think back to when I was a little kid growing up, I was never harassed by anyone and I never participated in an alliance that made anyone feel bad. I always helped and stood up for those people because I knew I would hate it if anyone bullied me or hurt my feelings in any way. When I was in elementary school I participated in a club known as the Conflict Managers. The job of a conflict manager was to solve any conflicts that they were confronted with, it could have been a disagreement over a ball, you had to do your job and help solve the conflict and if it was a fight that was about to happen you had to do your job and help the people before the situation sprouted into a fight. We had trainings and classes to help us prepare for a real situation. Because I was good at this, and I participated in it for multiple years, I was able to train others. I really enjoyed helping people solve their problems, and it mostly took up most of my lunch recess time but I was committed. The reason behind people bullying others is they feel that other people’s pain will make them inferior to them, this is just saying that when a person feels they have no power, they want others feel just like them and they pick on them and that way they have inferior figures to boss around. I also think that people bully others because when they are at home they are taught that, that is the right thing to do and they are encouraged to do it so they keep up with the negativity. I think the motivation behind bullies wanting to hurt their peers is coming from people at their homes and also from their friends or maybe they don’t have friends and they don’t know how to make any. Also there is no one there to tell them to stop or that is wrong so they keep doing it and get the wrong attention. Bullies can open their eyes and see what they are doing is wrong, or they can get confronted by the principal or the victims’ parents and get into trouble. A way I can help bullies stop is to tell them they are wrong and need to look at it from another person’s point of view like how they would feel if they got bullied.