Education on Bullying and Mental Well Being Is Key

As a kid, I was bullied, teased, and made fun of. I spent a very large majority of time in the counselor's office. I was a very depressed kid. This started when I was in the second grade and continued through the rest of my schooling. I shared my issues with the School counselors and with my parents. It really was to no avail, because the harassment never stopped.

Finally, when I ended my nineth grade school year, I ran away and never went back. That was my escape. I walked six miles in the dark to a gas station and hid behind a dumpster until my brother arrived from Michigan to rescue me. He was the only one that would do something to help me. However, that was not the right thing to do. I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I hurt my education. What should have happened, unfortunately, didn't and I don't think it does in today's school system. The school should have held the children accountable for their actions. They should have had an assembly that focused on the issues. They could have given a writing assignment in English class. Everyone goes through tough times growing up. But instead of keeping a blind eye or a deaf ear, we as adults need to educate the kids. Teach them that we are all the same. We all hurt the same. We all love the same. We were all put on Earth without a choice.

I am 45-years-old and to this day, my life is still affected by my childhood. I don't want to see this happen to anyone. We need to work together to make school a happy and safe place. After all, our children require an education. The school system is under funded and I don't see that changing anytime soon. The fact is that they are not going to pay someone to come in and educate the kids on this problem. I think that starting a volunteer program would be very beneficial. Two or three times a year, people could go to the schools and talk to the kids about this issue. Tell them about their own experiences as kids and teens. Set up a crisis hotline to help someone in need. Hand out cool little educational pamphlets that the kids would actually read.

I keep hearing about gun control. People kill people. Guns don't get up and decide to shoot someone. I own a muzzle loader for hunting. I have absolutely no intention on ever shooting someone with it. I believe that you need to be checked out before you are allowed to purchase a weapon. I don't know the laws in other States, but where I live, all I had to do was pick the gun that I wanted and provide my driver's license. That was it. It's too easy. I also think that every gun should be kept under lock and key. If a kid gets access to his parent's weapons, then the parents should be held accountable as well. I would like to hear other opinions on this subject. This violence and abuse needs to stop now. Is the world so far gone that we can't make changes? I don't think so. We are in a modern day Dark Ages. Everytime we turn on the news channel, we hear about another random shooting, another murder, another rape, another child abduction. It goes on and on. I know that, unfortunately, we will always have these things to deal with, but we have to start somewhere. Hearing about all of these things on a daily basis makes me want to move to the wilderness and live off the grid, but I am not going to run away again. I am going to be a voice. A voice of a woman who was once a bullied kid.