Jordan Overturf

5/24
Benjamin Craig
Rough Draft Paper

Cause and effect, the principle of causation, a relationship between events or actions
where one or more are the result of the other(s). Because one event happens, more are born from
that one. A ripple would be a good example. Throw a rock in the water and what happens? The
water reacts from that action, causing waves to form and spread across the body of water. The
world revolves around this and many man-made things were made for such a thing. Cause and
effect has been mans favorite and most hated law of physics since the beginning of everything,
whether they think about it or not. From sports to war, religion, politics, and more, we are drawn
to this principle for it can create, but also destroy. Wars have been started because of this law,
whether that be a small or large cause. The size does not matter, because once the pebble makes
contact with the water, the ripples just keep growing and growing. Plays, musicals, movies and
TV shows all have this theme within their story. This theme happens in between the beginning
and middle of them. The beginning introduces the story and characters, then it begins the spark
of cause or conflict. The effect grows in the middle of this story then the protagonist(s) ends the
conflict, but that is also an effect of the cause. Cause and effect have been around since the
beginning of time and it will continue onward till the end of time. We may not always change the
cause, but we can change the effect of it, for better or worse. There is one topic that has, because
of its bad cause, has had an increasingly had a negative effect, but we can change that. It effects
all people, but more specifically the younger generation: Bullying. More importantly, bullying at
school, the place where education and growth in ones career decision making and personal
growth is supposed to happen.
Bullying has not been uncommon to us. It is one word, but with many types. For
some it is used to maintain social order and ensures the balance of dominance and power. In
other, and in our, cases, bullying is harmful and used to injure others physically, emotionally and
socially. Bullying isnt a behavior that we can measure, but it can be unmistakably seen.
Everyone has seen and experienced this at one point of time in their life. This behavior is
recognizable because its intended to harm or disturb, it occurs repeatedly, and there is an
imbalance of power, physically and/or psychologically. In the school setting, there are different
categories of bullying that happen both on campus and online. Theres one on one bullying
which occurs more in elementary schools. Pack bullying is worse in that they can target one
person and overpower them, physically and emotionally. This overwhelms the bullied which can
impact their negative behavior afterward even more. There are different ways of bullying, but the
sad part is that it can happen involuntarily. It is not necessarily their fault for their ignorance or
unawareness, but it is because of this that it takes place. Simply ignoring the person or them
feeling let out of the group is a type of bullying, which is referred to as social bullying. Bullys
tend to be more drawn to individuals, or groups, that are different than what they believe to be
normal or cool. So this counts homosexuals and disabled on the bully list. There are some on
the list that apply to both the young generation and older generation, like religion and race. This
paragraph has listed the many types of bullies and the many ways of bullying. These are many
causes to the effect of being bullied, or perhaps they arent causes? What if these causes are
really just effects of a past cause? What if this repeats onward through history? Is there a
beginning cause? What started all of this?

Jordan Overturf
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Benjamin Craig
Rough Draft Paper

In order to understand a problem or the reasoning for an event, one should always start at
the beginning where it all happened. Once you understand the cause, you can then have a
solution for the effect. Sometimes, though, you cant find a cause because it is too far back in
time to get the full answer. You can only go so far back and try to come up with a solution. When
finding the source, we have to start small then grow the search range. Is bullying only a behavior
that occurs in the United States? The answer is clearly no as it is widespread across the world. A
2005 multinomial study went to 28 countries across North America and Europe to reveal how
common bullying was in every culture. This was varied greatly as the least severe happenings
were to girls in Sweden and the most severe to boys in Lithuania. Yet despite the range, there
was not one place that were completely absent of bullying. Because of this, we have to deny the
possibility of bullying being part of a culture. Bullying is part of being a human it would seem,
that this is a species-typical human behavior. This makes things more difficult since it is not part
of a culture. Culture ways are easier to change than human behavior, especially when it is global
behavior. Bullying is not just a human trait, though. Animals of all kinds do the same. Studies
have shown and proved this. But what makes human bullying different and unique? Words.
Language. We are able to communicate through these things. Words have an equal, if not, greater
impact on others than physical harm would ever do. It is the reason for wars and peace,
negotiations and arguments. On the subject of kids in school, this has a great impact on them,
whether that be face to face or online through social media, email, and such. Using physical
violence to harm a target may leave bruising and soreness, but this is temporary. They will heal
eventually, but words can leave a scar that may never go away. On the topic of school bullying,
we may not be able to find the core cause of every bullying ever, but when it comes to the kids
there is almost always one cause: the parents. When kids pick on or intimidate other kids, they
are releasing their contained anger on an outlet that just so happens to be the kid being targeted.
The contained rage comes has to come from someplace else and it just so happens to be where
they live. Parents are not always the kind family. Some homes have those who are not fit for
parenting. Whether that be because of their own personality issues or because of their income.
Whatever the reason, it seems to affect them as parents.
This results in fighting, drinking, arguing which leads to worse things like cheating
and/or divorce. As a child this is something new to them that they do not fully understand. These
bad situations that should not be revealed in their own household at such a young age can cause
nights of hate and sadness. The kids bottle up these emotions and because holding them in isnt a
healthy choice they need an outlet. What better place to release it than at a place where there are
those weaker or less intelligent than you? To them those people may just be random kids who
they may never see again so they dont feel as guilty at the time, or maybe the target did
something to upset them, even if it was miniscule. They are a walking time bomb and all it takes
is one little spark for them to explode. These peoples anger can impact more than just
themselves. There may be those who look up to that person and want to impersonate them
because they idolize them so much. This could continue on when that lackey grows up and he
gets people who idolize him as well and then the cycle of bullying of that school continues. Even
the very targets that the bullies intimidate could become them. Much like the parent situation, the

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target could hold bottled up emotions due to this abuse and unleash upon someone else and then
another cycle begins. If this isnt treated, it wont just stop at high school. It will carry on with
them for the rest of their life and if they have a spouse and children, this negative attitude will
move on to his children. Next thing you know, hes the parent that caused his children to become
bullies and so continues a legacy of intimidation and abuse. We have to look at this like a viral
disease or sickness. It can take one person to infect a whole civilization just with some small
interactions that spread. With this subject, though, it is harder to see. The symptoms for this are
more difficult to observe because it all resides in the mind. Everyone goes through depression,
anger and many other emotions through many reasons so finding out if the cause of this is
because of a bully or group of bullies can possibly be one of the reasons it takes so long to find a
solution for it.
Bullying is not a good characteristic to have. In high school, lots of kids focus on their
reputation there and how they can be cool enough to be with those labeled as that. Depending
on the school, bullying is a form of this. In other places, being a bully does not look great and is
frowned upon. They may feel high and mighty at that time, but after school is done, the negative
impacts of their actions drop in on them. Anger affects the mind in focusing and having a clear
head, if they bottle this it will continuously be on their mind, making them unable to focus as
much as they potentially could. This results in bad work at school and possibly more arguments
and abuse back home. This will cycle back to bottling more anger and so forth. Keeping these
emotions after school can affect long term situations as well. Not just anger though, this can
cause other symptoms like depression, anxiety, loneliness, and unhappiness as well. Adding all
of those together into one body can ruin or destroy ones life. This includes finding a job, spouse
and the possibility of a family. Normal objectives in life become a lot harder due to this. Not only
is it bad for ones social life, but also for ones physical health. It is said to be the cause of many
illnesses, like cancer. Many have died due as a result of someone bullying them and causing
them so much stress. All this for the bully may sound bad, which it does, but just imagine what
those who have been the target have to go through during and after school.
School is supposed to be a place of safe education. A place where you could possibly
discover the career you desire for the future. It shows you how to work for a goal and how to
keep on that path. But if you decide to change your mind and switch what career you wanted,
thats not a problem as you are still young. Theyll show you how to plant your foot in any career
you desire, no matter if you change. When starting school, every kid is shy at first. New place,
new people, which means new opportunity. Walking into this building they are a blank page
thats waiting to be written. Once you figure out the classes, its almost necessary to find people
to call friends so you wont go through the year alone. So lets say you find some friends, youre
getting good grades. You start to feel confident in yourself, and why not? A bright future is
waiting for you and youre stepping on the right path to success. As you walk through the hall
like any other day, you glance at a kid who passes you. They are taller than you, look stronger,
and all it takes sometimes is one look, then youre their next target. This kid starts bullying you
day after day, with constant insults and maybe some beatings. What did you do to deserve this?

Jordan Overturf
5/24
Benjamin Craig
Rough Draft Paper

You hardly knew the kid, but now youre his meal. Confidence drops as the insults start taking
root. Next thing you know, youre grades are dropping, anti-socializing has become second
nature to you. But its alright, all you got to do is make it through the years and youll never see
them again. Now you need a way to boost your confidence, so you look to social media. Seeing
all the wonderful comments friends and family tell about you lifts your spirits. But,
unfortunately, the internet isnt a safe haven either. Eventually, emails with hurtful comments
come, from anonymous people. You may not even know that person yet they believe they know
more about you. Everywhere you turn there are those who wish to harm you and now theres
little confidence left in you. There are many ways this situation could go from here. This
innocent kid who supposedly did nothing wrong is now a walking punching bag for some, and
hes starting to break. There are those like him who have not recovered from this situation and
are taking classes at a much older age. The worst outcome is those who cant handle the stress
and decide to take their own life, believing it would ultimately end the suffering. But doing this
causes more suffering for others than it does for that child.
Like any other person, I experienced bullying when I was younger. It was
more verbal abuse than physical, but it still hurt and impacted my life. It started in
5th grade, and I was trapped in one room the whole year. Our school was a small
school and we only had one other building besides the main one. It consisted of only
two classrooms and I was in one of them for the whole year. My other classes I
switched around rooms in, but for some reason for that year I was stuck in that one.
My teacher was an older lady who to me seemed very strict and it felt like she
would criticize you if you made a mistake. She wasnt the issue though. Because we
were a small school, we had a small class and most of them I got along with fine.
There were some I could really call friends, and then there was that one group of
three clowns who ran our classrooms laughter. There leader was the comedian
who was indeed funny, but some of his humor wasnt very funny. Jokes were half of
his show while insults were the other. His two other lackeys would, of course, follow
in his footsteps trying to be funny, but they mostly succeeded at the insults because
not everyone can be funny, but anyone can be insulting. This didnt just happen to
me though, they especially picked on my friend who was one of the first friends I
had since coming to this school. He was the tallest one in the class, skinny, crooked
teeth. Honestly he wasnt the good looking type and thats probably a cause in
people bullying him. He also had a different personality then everyone else, but I
didnt mind. I saw them torturing this guy and I couldnt do anything about it. I was
never good with saying big words or making sense at times, so that didnt help
when I tried stopping them. They just kept throwing comebacks and insults back my
way. It was that same year when our class went swimming when I thought it would
be a nice break from the normal days of the school year. A chance where everyone
could come together and have fun, but I was proving wrong. It only took one
comment from not even the same trio to tear me down. Some other girl called me
fat when she saw me, and I shut down. I wasnt even fat looking back and asking
others about that time. For some reason, though, I believed her and I didnt swim

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for the rest of the day. I just sat wrapped in a towel on a chair watching everyone
else.
After 5th grade, I never fully recovered from that year. My self-confidence was
gone, body shaming myself became second nature, and I felt different from
everyone else, but obviously not in a good way. Throughout the years, friends have
helped me gain my self-confidence, but one thing never changed and that was how
I viewed my body. It was the reason I wanted very badly to work out, so when the
high school introduced work out class, nothing could have made me more excited at
that time. My best friend was a husky guy so working out with him helped. He
wasnt fat he just had more meat on him than I did. By the end of that year I could
lift the same weight as he did, and that was the greatest feeling ever. I may have
been skinny, but there was more muscle there than people thought. Sports was also
a good way to help, especially soccer. I was one of the fastest sprinters on the team,
and surprisingly, faster than most of the other teams. We as a team may not have
been the best and won that many games, but all that mattered to me was how fast I
was. I was always on defense and my goal was to catch the person with the ball. To
hear how fast I was when I caught up to them boosted my confidence a ton. Yet
even with all this confidence, it wasnt enough to destroy the body shaming I had.
To this day, I still do it and though it doesnt drag me down, it does put a hinder in
having the most self-confidence I can potentially have.
Not only do personal stories and obvious facts of the subject show the need
for change, but there are also statistics and studies showing that we need to do
something about this. A study of junior high and high school students coming from
mid-western towns showed that 88% of the students observed the bullying while
77% were victims of bullying (Hoover et al., 1992). Journals and articles have been
made to raise the awareness of this abuse to recognize it as a form of violence that
must be stopped. It was only till after major events took place like suicides and
shootings that people finally did something about it. The United States Secret
Service also did an investigation into the common psychological profiles, and they
found that 77% of the school shooters were victims of bullying. Yet even their zerotolerance policies and new systems arent enough for this. It may not be possible
to end bullying, but we can decrease it. A possible solution to this would be a fun
art-based convention that specifically targets the relationship the kids have with
their parents. Think of it like a playground designed to strengthen the bond of family
through teamwork and fun activities. It would last a day, either every other month
or every year, since parents have jobs and all, but imagine the possibilities it could
have on the kids. Those with a rough home can come and the convention would
possibly help them work things out through fun. Lectures, presentations, and
teachings are a way to prevent this, but thats more for the parents and those who
go arent necessarily the ones causing the trouble. In order to stop this, we have to
target not only the cause of other kids abuse, but also the bullys cause of abuse as
well.

Jordan Overturf
5/24
Benjamin Craig
Rough Draft Paper