The Power of Sharing Your Story

What impacts students when addressing bullying? One of the more powerful influences, as rated by the students themselves, is learning about their peer's unique experiences. It can be a video, a written story, song, artwork, audio file or a poem - what matters is that bullying becomes a shared experience, that no one should experience it in isolation or think that they are alone, or that no one cares - and that there are steps that can be taken to make it stop.

Every story is unique, each one has a message, and allows for another voice to be heard. Below is one such story, a poem by "Hannah", an 8th grade student.

"Hi, my name is Hannah and I'm supporting TeensAgainstBullying.org by
sharing my story. In seventh grade my two best friends turned against me and
harassed me all the time. The bullying took a huge toll on me, and I started
cutting myself very badly. I quit cutting at the end of eighth grade and have
found comfort in writing poetry. Here is the first poem I ever wrote. It is
about my life in seventh grade."

The Pain
Pain doesn't hurt
When it's all you've ever felt.
So drench yourself
In the music just so you don't melt.

Let the music
Take you in.
Until every inch
Of flesh has thinned.

And only then
Can you wash away,
All the memories
Of that day.

The dirty looks
you got from "friends".
The lonely sighs
That would never end.

They wash away
Like acid rain.
Or like the acid tears
That took the pain.

Want to share your story? Send it to bullying411@PACER.org