It follows you, torments you, corrupts you. It kills you deep within. You never know who suffers from it, until it’s too late. By then, it’s nothing to you but blinding.

Bullying might seem like a joke to some, but on the contrary, it’s a drastic event. If people treated it like it was a drastic event, it wouldn’t happen as often as it does.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends or family who suffered from bullying and took it a little too far. I’ve had friends who cut themselves, lit themselves on fire, tried to suffocate themselves or even attempted suicide. All of this because people can’t get it through their thick skull that what they do has consequences, whether it be to them or someone else.

People push you around, call you names and judge you just because they feel like it. They may feel better about themselves but what they don’t understand is how we feel about it.

People think bullying is a joke when they do it for laughs without regarding the victim’s perspective. Words can be great, or they can teach hate. People make an assumption without knowing what anyone has been through. Walk a mile in their shoes before you talk like they aren’t walking straight. Just because they aren’t walking straight doesn’t mean they aren’t on the right path.

Last year, for some stupid reason people would say “Your mom” to a lot of questions. That is just flat out disrespectful. For all you know, their mother could be dead.

I’m not going to lie. I’ve been bullied before, whether it was intentional or not. I’ve cried. I’ve run away. I felt so alone, I know how it feels. I felt pathetic, like I was never good enough. I always asked myself why I was born, I didn’t ask for this life so why do I have to live it?

In all honesty, I get more pissed off than sad when I discover more suicide attempts because of bullying. There’s always one person on the other end of the situation. I mean honestly, what could you possibly gain for potentially causing a death? No, you didn’t kill them but your words practically did the job for you.

Remember the story of Amanda Todd? Teenage girl in high school? She was young and didn’t know any better. Someone asked for a nude picture of herself so she sent them. That same person posted it on a social network. Todd received so much hate from people at her school after this picture that she switched schools. She cut her wrists and drank bleach to kill herself but she survived because her parents took her to the hospital. People made fun of Todd, saying they wished she had died, posting pictures of bleach on her Facebook profile. Todd even made a Youtube video about how she couldn’t take anymore of it, that she will kill herself. Todd eventually succeeded in killing herself. Even after that, people posted on her timeline “I’m glad she’s dead” or “She deserved it.”

It breaks and infuriates my heart and soul to know that there are people out there who treat someone so terribly for whatever reason. One death could kill many more. People have a future, but when they kill themselves, their future is gone. They could’ve saved lives, done great things for themselves, but no, they won’t be doing anything at all because of ignorant human beings acting like they’re a greater species when inside we all have the same skeleton. Ask yourself this, how many people need to die for people to realize what they’re doing is wrong? No one should’ve died in the first place.

Bullying is a drastic event and we can and must make a change.