Subtle bullies are bullies too.

This archived article was written by: Morgan Verdi

You are with a group of friends, talking, laughing and having a great time when all of a sudden one of your friends says something to you. It hurts your feelings and even humiliates you. You try to brush it off as no big deal, but you can’t help but wonder why. Why would a friend do that to you?

Unfortunately, situations like that above happen more than one would think. Subtle bullies are everywhere. According to MBNBD, one in seven students in grades K-12 are either bullies or victims of bullying. The bad part is most of the time they exist in our close group of friends. Girls are most often the culprits, as well as the victims to subtle bullying.

You know the saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?” That saying has never been, nor will it ever be, true. I’ve always said sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will be the death of me.

Hurting others with words seems to be so common that we don’t even realize what we do. We don’t see the damage it does. We may even be victims of subtle bullying yet find ourselves doing it to others. Why, when we know how hard subtle bullying makes life, would we do it to someone else?

I’ve been bullied by other girls my whole life, but also know I’ve found myself doing the same thing. This vicious cycle of hurting each other has to stop somewhere. Subtle bullying is just as damaging to a person as actual physical bullying. The emotional effects subtle bullying has on a person can be deadly. That’s why it has to stop.

None of us want to wake up one day and find that our friend, the one we bullied for stupid meager reasons, took their life because we couldn’t wake up and see their hurt. Whether we are bullying because of jealousy or just so we feel better about ourselves, it’s never okay to bully another person even in subtle ways. Subtle attacks can be the most deadly.

The criticizing has to stop. The rude comments have to stop. We need to show kindness toward one another, we have to break the cycle because if we do not, what will the next generation be like if we don’t change? We can make a difference. We can stop the catty fighting.

We can stand up for each other and make sure that we are never caught trying to justify why we treated someone poorly. There is never a just reason, no matter what the person is like, to treat them poorly. Let’s rise above and stop the subtle bullying. Who knows, we might just save a life.