ASTI Constitution Response

A quote that I found while going through my peers' responses to bullying was of Jasiu Metkowski. In his blog, it contained the following:

"students insult each other and commonly gang up and pick on a few victims. many of the insults bully victims experience are based on thier race, religion, apperince, character and advances in education (where "nerd" came from). the insults and harm the victim experiences (joke or not) can cause some negitive effects such as depresion, anger, and if worst comes to worse, the victim could experience the temptation of commiting suicide. i confess i have bullied others in the past.i wanted to join the laughter so i would tag along, though when it went beond limits i would try to chill it down."

When i read this portion of Jasiu's blog, our ASTI constitution came to mind, specifically numbers two, three, and four: 'Include, don't exclude'; 'Accept others for who they are'; and 'Speak up for yourself and others'. What Jasiu is stating in his blog is mostly out of personal experience. He has dealt on both sides of bullying, portraying both the bully and the victim. In his experiences, he points out how bullies go for people who are of different "race, religion, apperince, character and advances of education (sic)". Here is where the ASTI constition kicks in. Instead of keeping people out based on these reasons, people should instead take them in, get to know one another, and create a bond.

Jasiu also talks about how he made people suffer as well. When he seen what he had been doing, he thought it went "[beyond] limits [and] would try to chill down". Here, he spoke up for people even though he was doing the opposite at first. This is an example of how everyone not some, should follow the ASTI constitution because it fits everyone: bullies, former bullies, victims, etc. When people see someone who is trouble, they should stand up for them and speak up instead of letting that victim suffer. They wouldn't want to be in the same situation so why do nothing?

'Just Kidding' and 'Ganging Up' from Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons

There has been a situation where I was part of an alliance that made someone feel bad and I did not feel good about it at all. Even though I did not take a big part in making this someone feel bad, I still felt like I was responsible for bringing this person down emotionally by joining the alliance and showing that we are against him/her. In this situation, my options were to join the alliance and become unharmed or targeted or stand up for this person and become victimized as well.

This was a long time ago. About two or three years ago. When I look back at this incident, I look back at a mistake I made for not standing up for an innocent kid who was being bullied for means of entertainment. If that incident could replay itself, I would stand up for that poor kid and maybe that kid would go home in a better emotional state.

I think that people bully each other to feel superior and gain popularity. By bullying, a person sees himself as a dominant figure and looks to gain respect by doing so. They bully in front of large crowds to send their word out and become the talk of the school. But in doing so, they sometimes don't see the damaged that they have done. This damage that they are enforcing  is so harmful that it can go as far as to suicidal thoughts on their victims. I see bullying as a hobby. I say this because I see people bully for the pleasure of it. Some do it not because they want to but because they don't want to be on the wrong side of it. Either way, people do it for a reason which means that bullying isn't really one's behavior. Bullying is not a person's true colors or identity but it is rather an action. It's an action so powerful that a person's life is sometimes taken away by it.