Yun Jung Song

24 years old, graduated in Tourism Development - Cheju National University, South Korea.

She is studying english at Archer College, Toronto-Canada.

Thanks prof. Renuka Krishna

Often we think of a bully as someone who hits others. But bullying is not just actions. The reason is that a bully wants to control the other person and use his/her strength or power to hurt or frighten other people.

Nowadays, the problem regarding bullying has been getting serious as a crime. People who live in many different countries have been expressing their feelings about bullying. People think it will happen in high school or college. Of course it happens there, but that’s not all.

It can happen anywhere. Korea is no exception to this problem. Every year, I hear about the seriousness of bullying on TV or computer, like suicide or attempted suicide because of the bullying; In S.Korea all men are required to join Army service for two years. Many soldiers have tried to commit suicide or run away because of bullying in the Army.

Sometimes we can see the videos on the internet, which were taken on the real bullying field. Some of those were taken by someone else who witnessed the bullying, and others were taken by one of the bullies. The pictures shown on the video are usually very coarse, because most of the videos were taken with a mobile phone with a camera device. In the video taken by bullies, they look towards the camera showing a V-sign with their fingers. There is no guilt and regret.

Also, several days ago, I read an article about one man. He was supposed to take the military service of duty for 2 years, but he couldn’t stand the bullying. So he just ran away to avoid the bullies, and has lived as another person using a false identity for thirteen years. He couldn’t get in touch with his family and friends, because he knew that if he was arrested, he would be sent back to the army where the bullies were.

Another case is, when I was in Korea, one day I saw a program that reported some weird cases. That day they reported about a little boy who was yelling and beating his mother. The result of investigation was that he expressed his anger to his mother because he was being bullied since he was in kindergarten. But his mother thought that it was her fault and tolerated it. Because whenever he told her about the bullies his mother thought that he was just grumbling and didn’t take it seriously.
Like this bullying affects many people. Victims of bullying become very unhappy, depressed, and lose their confidence. Their family also suffers.

However, it’s not easy to help a victim of bullying, because it usually happens in a group. So there are both sides, bullies and victims of bullying in the same place. Also, they feel insecure and nervous because they are not in an equal position, so it is difficult to fight against a bully for a victim of bullying. Besides, they try to hide the fact because they are afraid of a bully’s retaliation and sense of humiliation, even though they have suffered a lot.

Moreover, the criterion of bullying is not certain. Unless the victim complains, it is hard to know who is being bullied. Because when someone is bullied emotionally and he/she complains about it, the bully may just say that it was a joke. It is up to the victim to put a stop to this kind of behavior.

People usually think that they don’t need to concern themselves about other’s problems, especially their private problems. It’s time for us all to reconsider the seriousness of bullying and to do something about it. We must teach our children to respect each other as human beings. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to inculcate good values in our children at a very going age so that they don’t become bullies or victims of bullying in the future.

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