Bullying

I follow actress Sophia Bush on Twitter, one of the few celebrities I really respect and love for being so caring and using her public visibility as a way to speak out. She’s been updating us on different gay bullying suicides.I just don’t get it. I’ve been reading about all these teenagers killing themselves in the last week as a result of being bullied for being gay. Are you joking me? It’s just ridiculous and sad. Bullying in general is horrible. I didn’t really experience it in school at all, though I wasn’t exactly “popular”. I did my thing, I had my friends from different crowds. Luckily I escaped school without being bullied so I can’t even imagine the pain it would cause someone. I hate confrontation in general by anyone, so to have people say hurtful things to me would be completely devastating.

On the subject of bullying people about their sexual orientation I have one thing to say: WHY is it your business? It’s 100% a personal matter. And who exactly are homosexuals hurting by choosing to love someone of the same gender? These bullies (and anyone who has a problem with homosexuality, for that matter) are not in any way directly affected by men loving men or women loving women. None. Just like they aren’t directly affected when men love women and women love men. None. They are affected only by their own desires and that is all. So why can’t they just let people live and love?

Like I said, I wasn’t bullied. But I watched it happen all the time. It’s not uncommon. I’m not saying at every corner someone was stereotypically shoving someone into a locker (not that our lockers were big enough). But still, people just teasing others for ridiculous reasons. Teasing others in general, no matter the reason. I just never understood. And even without the face to face bullying, a lot of hateful gossip and hurtful words. This happened to teachers a lot. It would break my heart when I would hear someone behind me whispering hurtful words about a teacher because maybe they’re not getting a good grade. I was just so over it. I saw it a little in college too, but not as much lately now that I’ve transferred and most of the students are older.

Bullying is one of the main reasons I am leaning towards homeschooling my children. I want my kids to feel free to be who they want to be without being afraid of people thinking badly of them. Bullying is immature, unnecessary and needs to stop immediately.