By Kailtyn Argue
EMS Press
Traverse City East MS
1st Place
MS, News Writing
Byline Opinion Article
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me so they say. Let me tell you the ugly truth, words kill people. Choose them carefully. For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death. It results in approximately 4600 lives lost each year and a leading cause is bullying.
Before I go on here’s a little background story. This is coming from someone that has spent many years doing exactly what I’m about to tell you not to. It’s only taken me thirteen years to figure out that listening to other’s criticism is not worth it. I’ve have spent hours feeling worthless and ugly and I would drown myself in the pain that people put on me and the pain I brought on myself. But my struggles have made me realize one of the most important lessons life has to offer. I found that there are two kinds of people in this world — the ones who will knock you down and the ones who will pick up.
It may seem dramatic but most teenage girls can take one look at themselves and find something wrong. But bullies have only as much power as we give them. If someone tells you’re fat, it will only hurt you if you believe it. If we tell ourselves that those words truly hurt us, then they will, and you won’t forget them. They will be in the back of your mind constantly, reminding you of your worthlessness and never let you forget it..
My first tip is to ditch the labels. Somehow we let labels replace our names. We only see ourselves as the sum of our flaws. Fat. Ugly. Stupid. Boring. They’re just words. So why is it that we give them the power to hurt us? We let those words walk all over us and they make us feel like crap. If you do this too, it doesn’t mean you’re crazy. It just means you’re human. Most of the time we’re our own biggest bullies. We see the flaws in ourselves and let them overpower the good things in us — the things that make us who we are. We waste hours trying to hide our flaws and wondering if other people see them too.
Humor is a great tactic to deal with bullies. If someone tells you you’re fat then just tell them it’s because you’re half elephant and smile or tell them it’s a different form of abs. If you make someone laugh, maybe they will see that they can’t hurt you.
But the most effective strategy is surrounding yourself with the right people. If someone tries to hurt you, then they’re not worth being friends with. We all have the potential to be great people even if that’s harder to see in some.
It may be obvious to you when someone makes a hurtful comment, but some people don’t realize they are hurting you. Tell them! Tell them that what they are saying to you hurts and it only makes them look dumb and low. By surrounding yourself with your true friends and family, you will realize how much you mean to them and how worthwhile you really are. As the great Dr. Seuss once said, “To the world you may just be a person, but to a person you mean the world.” I think that speaks truth to everyone.
So what I’m telling you is don’t do something you can’t take back. School ends and eventually you never have to see those immature rude people again. Until then, do more of what you love. Do something that makes you happy. Spend time with someone that makes you smile.
My goal in writing this is to show someone who may be going through what I did that everything turns out. I hope that this helped pick you up and realize that you are beautiful and you are worth it. There is no such thing as an ugly person. We are only what we make of ourselves.