The Bullying Stops Here

Everyday we hear stories about people who have committed suicide because they have been tortured and tormented by school bullies. Recently, the death of a woman’s fifteen year old daughter, Marjorie Raymond, has left her mother questioning how the tragedy of losing her daughter could have been prevented. In the suicide note that her upset mother had released, Marjorie placed responsibility on her classmates for making her life “unbearable” due to the bullying she had been facing for the past three years. She also mentioned in her suicide note that “it’s the fault of the jealous people who want to destroy my happiness,” which displays that the bullying was taken too far and it greatly transformed her self-image. Due to many similar cases in the past, Ontario premier, Dalton McGuinity has recently presented a legislation that would subject schoolyard bullies to “tougher measures.” This legislation outlined “inappropriate behavior,” such as gender-based violence, sexual assault, bullying, and situations linked to homophobia would impose a legal reasonability on school boards to take powerful measures against bullies, including expulsion. Most reactions to the bill have been positive. McGuinity is hoping this new bill will result in less children feeling hopeless and will not resort to extreme measure in order to break loose from the pain.

I think that this new bill being introduced is the best thing that anyone has tried to enforce! Everyday at school I see at least one person being bullied. Sometimes I even witness friends bullying their friends as a joke making ludicrous comments like “you’re ugly” or “your fat,” which seems really absurd for a friend to say. However, it does happen and I think that bullies that go to the extent of verbally and physically breaking someone down are cowards. They have nothing better to do in life so they go and ruin other people’s lives by committing heinous acts. Often in life many of us don’t realize how powerful our words can be, until a situation has already gotten so far out of our reach to fix. Throughout my years in elementary school I encountered many situations where I was bullied by fellow classmates because of my religion. Honestly, I remember going home at times and crying because the bullying had gotten so out of control. For the majority of the time, a teacher simply giving a person a warning is not enough. I think that the introduction of this bill will help people rethink their actions before following through with them because there will be harsher consequences.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/will-new-legislation-stop-bullying-problem-in-school-.html

 Will new legislation stop bullying problem in school? | Daily Brew - Yahoo! News." Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. <http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/will-new-legislation-stop-bullying-problem-in-school-.html>.