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