Unfortunately, if you walk through the hallways of WY you may hear slanderous and racist comments thrown around in a casual conversation. Also, you will rarely ever hear people scolding the people who are making these comments. While there are some who will speak out, the general public is too worried about how they will look if they do so. For some reason an idea has been instilled in students heads that it is not ‘cool’ to speak out against verbal bullying.

This is a completely wrong assumption. Students and people in general, need to know that at all times speaking up against hurtful and wrong comments will not make you look lame or inferior to those who are just watching as the hurtful comments are being thrown around. Many people say that the people who allow bullies to do what they do with no repercussions carry just as much blame as the bullies themselves. This is because clearly the bully does not realize in that moment that what they are doing is wrong. If someone speaks up, they help that person realize how wrong what they did was, and they help the recipient of the hurtful comments.

People say these types of hurtful comments will make bullies feel greater about them. If this is the case for you, or someone you know, it is extremely important to know that there are many other ways to achieve happiness and social confidence. Some of these include giving out one compliment per day and helping someone out that is in need.

Moving forward, in order to keep our school a culturally diverse and comfortable community, the bullying and bigotry needs to stop. In order for this happen we need leaders who will stand up against hurtful comments.