Heal The World: Bullying

• Alissa Deryawesh, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2019

You in the front. You in the middle. You at the back corner. You have all been bullied. That’s guaranteed. It might have been you that day that was pushed to the ground. It could have been you that had your lunch money stolen. Sound familiar?

I am here today with one message, three words, and a hopeful heart. My message is to “Heal this world“ from bullies. Let me tell you why.

Can you believe that over 20,000 students in NSW have already experienced bullying? 20,000 young people. I’m going to let that sink in.

You know what? I’m going to tell you my story. My name is Alissa and I have been bullied.

It all began when I was playing sport at school. I was called a ‘mean’ girl. For what? For trying to say the truth. To stand up for someone. This is what healing the world means to me. It's about supporting one another and lifting each other up when we are down. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we just helped each other out every once in a while?

When those two classmates said I was ‘mean’ you know what I did? I went home, I told my mum and I cried. And I’m not ashamed of that. I went to school the next day feeling a lot better, but I was still so nervous. Would they forgive me?

Would they let me play with them? But their answer was...no. You know what else happened? That day, when I was walking into class, someone said I was ‘weird’. Do you know how that felt? To feel like I was ‘different’? It feels like the heart inside of me was breaking with every step I took. It felt like I was alone. I don’t want anyone to feel like this. And this is why I’m here today telling you this message about healing this world. But I need your help because I can’t heal this world on my own. I need you.

If we are going to heal the world, we need to know what it is we are healing. First of all, “What is a bully?” A bully is someone that puts other people down. They make you feel terrible inside. We can heal this world by making sure there are no bullies.

There is no simple answer on how we are going to make all the bullies disappear and heal this world. But we can still do something! I know we can. What do I mean by this? I mean we can spread this message. Spread the message of standing up to tell the truth. I know this can work if we all try. But there is one condition. We are in this together. Every single one of you. If we join hands, imagine how powerful we can be against bullies? Not only can we stand up against bullies, but we can transform them!

20,000 people in NSW have already experienced bullying. I’m Alissa and I am one of these people. 20,000 is just too many. Let's make this number smaller.

Pass...the...message.
Heal the world.