As someone who has been and currently is a victim of bullying, I want people to know that it can have very long-lasting and negative effects. While it might seem amusing to YOU to comment or go out of your way to show how you feel about someone’s “embarrassing” style, hair, music taste, habits, appearance, etc, it is not funny to the person on the other end. Bullying is more prevalent now than ever before because of our generation’s addiction to social media and the peer pressure that it creates. Over the course of my life, I’ve seen the nice kids I grew up with turn into horrible monsters who don’t care about their life or education, don’t care about kindness, and who bully people online and in person to the brink of suicide. They walk around glued to their phones and don’t respect anyone outside of their cliques. I currently go to an alternative school of about 300 kids who are there because they cannot go to the other schools in our district. I am one of the only few who are there for mental health reasons and every day I walk the halls, there’s condescending looks and derogatory slurs thrown at me. I have so many targets on my back that I’m practically free game: I’m queer, I’m pale, I’m emo, I’m chubby, I’m smarter than most of the kids in my generation, and I don’t really follow any trends or norms. I live in a very conservative and religious community where all of those things make me vulnerable. I’ve gotten all kinds of bullying from dirty looks to death threats. I’ve been bullied at school, bullied at work, bullied in treatment centers, and even just out in public. I don’t have any friends or supportive family members and have a lot of restrictions on what I can do but I keep going in hope of pursuing a bright future. If I weren’t as strong as I am, I guarantee I would’ve succeeded in taking my life when I attempted to do so. The main reason I even attempted in the first place is because I couldn’t go anywhere without being bullied, teased, ignored, or othered by my classmates. In repetitive and extreme cases, bullying causes negative self-image, psychological disorders, and even suicidal idealization and attempts. I have seen the horrible effects of bullying on one too many people, including myself and I want everyone who reads this to know that bullying is NEVER okay.