Bullying and The Act of Suicide

I am subscribing to a YouTube series called Teens React. The show is incredible and the concept is really great. Basically, they film a bunch of teens’ reactions to certain events or person like YouTube artists (NigaHiga, Pewdiepie, etc.), Gangnam Style, Newton school shootings, U.S. president’s election, and the one I’m about to share, Amanda Todd’s Suicide Video Note.

See more of their videos, here:Teens React Videos

Amanda Todd was a 15 year old student who committed suicide because of a cyber-bullying back in 2012. She posted the video a month before her suicide, it’s a black and white video with her standing and flipping papers containing her story.

Please watch her story.

See Teens React on Amanda Todd's story here: Teens React on Amanda Todd

Bullying has been an international issue for as long as I can remember. Typical school bullying involves physical and/or verbal abuse which then causes the victims to withdraw socially. Victims of bullying usually keep to themselves mostly because they feel embarrassed to tell anybody that they’re being bullied. I once saw an episode of Oprah which features parents of bullied children who ended up committing suicide. One of the parents didn't even notice that their child was being bullied. They thought that it was a usual teenager’s prank. It’s so sad to hear that.

A bully or a prank?

Teenager or even some adults have a tendency to pull pranks. To me, the idea of a prank is a simple joke played among friends to trigger some laughter. You pull a prank by putting a fart cushion on a chair, patch a “Call me stupid.” sticker on the back, or hide each other’s phones. It’s funny but it doesn't damage any of the participants in any way.

Bully on the other hand, brings laughter only to the bully. The victims feel helpless, tortured, which then lead to depression. A teenager with a depression is the perfect suicide recipe. Many people or parents don’t realize the importance of standing up against bullying. People always think that bullying is a part of growing up. Well, pranks are part of growing up. You can't have friends without having to prank each other. Bullying IS NOT a part of growing up. It's an issue that has to be dealt with before it's too late.

The danger of cyber-bullying

Being a victim of school bullying is bad, but being a victim of cyber-bullying is thousand times worse. When you're being bullied at school, you can probably find other friends outside your campus. Also, not all students on your campus will be participating in the act of your bullying. Some students probably don't know you, or they just don't care.

In this era, almost all of the students join in at least one social media. That's when cyber-bullying really affect your social life. People who don't know you personally, may be your facebook friend or twitter follower. The previously school-limited bullying become a social phenomena. Everyone in your social circle knows.

Victims of cyber-bullying feel depressed and under pressure because they think that they have nobody to turn to. Practically everyone in their social life become their bullies, one way or another. They feel cornered and alone, which is why lots of them can only think that death is the perfect way out. No more pain, no more embarrassment, no more pressure.

Be the survivors

I'm not agreeing that suicide is the right answer. I'm merely stating the fact that these victims do believe so. If one of your friend is being bullied, please be there for them. At the very least acknowledge them. These victims are feeling helpless and alone every minute of every day. Being acknowledged can reduce the pain they're feeling.

If you're a victim of bullying, talk to your parents or your best friends. Go somewhere crowded, take a vacation out of town, or enjoy a walk in the park. Minimize the time when you're alone. If all else fails, contact suicide support groups or suicide hotlines.

Read this link to find out more: Suicide Is Not Chosen

Watch this video to find out that you're not alone: 

Mirror, Mirror on the wall

I have been meaning to post about this for a while. I think it’s funny that some people like to give some advice based on their experiences when they never do the same action they advised. I was once told not to be a stubborn and that I should care about others feelings by my friend who I thought the most stubborn and egotistical person. Believe it or not, people like to think they’re better than everyone else. I don’t think it’s wrong. I think it’s in our blood, in our primal instincts to compete. Feeling that you’re below anybody else before even knowing your opponent means losing even before the war has started. That’s why people have to think that they’re better than anyone else. So that we can compete, that we have the hope to win. So why am I writing this? Because I think it’s funny and ironic for the people who advise others without ever doing their own advice.

I don’t mind being told what to do as long as the one who told me is in fact a better person than I am. I’m not being arrogant by secretly saying that I’m the best, but there are people who are less experienced at some things than me. Of course I am also less experienced at other things than them. I’m just saying, for example, if you've never cook your entire life; don’t advise others on how to cook. You may have read a lot of books about cooking, but you have zero experience in cooking. It’s better to say that you don’t know and learn together. That way, you get to apply you theoretical knowledge about cooking and then you may advise others on how to cook based on your experiences.

Who’s the fairest of them all?

Once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky, you’ll meet someone who thinks that he/she is the best. No matter what you said or proved, they’ll always think that they know everything about everyone. If you are one of these individuals, I suggest you to change your perspective of yourself and others. Change it fast. You can’t be the Evil Queen forever. She was so obsessed at being the best, the fairest, in her land that she would kill anybody who will prevent her to be the fairest. By focusing on her fairness and destroying everyone who dares to stand before her, she failed to see the fall of her Kingdom. She failed to see her own destruction.

Deadly Game

Around a month ago, I did a Saw movie marathon on a lazy Saturday. I have already watched the first movie, but didn't get to watch the rest. Over the years, it’s said that Saw franchise was the most thrilling and gore movies. Some of my friends have already watched the entire series. Some recommend it; the others can’t stand to watch it because of the blood and eeriness of the scene. Now, I have a habit to Wikipedia certain movies which I find mind-blowing. Saw is on the top of my list at that time.

So, the antagonist and main character is John Kramer. John is an engineer; he builds a lot of tools and traps for his victims. He or his disciples drugged them and put them in a situation which then his victims have to choose between life and death. He began by putting a recording of Bill the Puppet saying “I want to play a game.”

“Live or die. Make your choice.”

To live, the victims must overcome sets of traps before the time runs out. These traps will sometimes cause the victims to sacrifice part of themselves, or others. John perceived his games as a test for the victims to prove that they are worthy of the gift of lives. He thinks that people waste their lives by doing wrong things to others. They don’t embrace the gift of lives, so they now have to be tested to redeem their right to live.

Oddly enough, all of the victims chose to live. I had thought that if I were put in that situation, I might choose to die instead of having to sacrifice my body parts or others. In essence, what I get from the movie was nobody wants to die. It sounds like a good thing when there is one victim trying to survive. But then on one of the episode, it’s amazing how fast people turn on each other when faced with death.

On one of the episodes, John had already said that he wants the 5 victims to work together. He even said that they will eagerly want to betray each other selfishly, but he insists for them to do otherwise. Yet on every stages of the game, one of them is sacrificed by others because of their own selfish mind. It’s uncanny how this John character can predict human nature to the point where he doesn't even need to be with them to know what they would do.

It makes me think though, is human behavior really that easy to predict? Would you sacrifice a drug addict to save your own live? Would you rather die or live with only one arm? Would you kill someone to protect others and yourself? Would you die willingly if you know you had done something terribly wrong in the past? What do you think?

Greetings!

Greetings fellow mortals!

I haven't write anything in almost a year, so forgive me for the next lousy posts.
Anyway, I want to start writing again because it's one of the most helpful way for me to keep 'my sanity'.

What I want to write will be mostly about people and what are they doing or how are they reacting to something and also my opinion about it. So, it's pretty personal for me because it's my opinion. As the blog said, it's my Random Thoughts.

However, you readers don't have to agree with it. If you do agree, feel free to comment on it. If you disagree, feel free to email me to discuss it further. Just don't go running around throwing rocks on me or something. :)

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion so I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that you have your own opinion and I respect that.

Anyway, happy reading. Hope you enjoy my blog as much as I do. :)