I am hear today to speak with you of my dreams for the future



“I Have a Dream” Example SpeechMrs. Brown“You’re fat!” “You’re so stupid!” “Get a life!” “SHUT UP!” “This school sucks.” “Gosh, so-and-so is such an idiot.” Everyday these comments are made over and over, and I wonder how much people actually think about what they are saying and the power of their words. I can’t count how many swear words I hear in a day. I can’t count how many times I hear kids ripping on their peers. I can’t count how many complaints I hear in a day…and it makes me sick.I am here today to speak with you of my dreams for the future. The matter of injustice I wish to address today is that of bullying, abuse, and violence among teens.According to the National Youth Prevention Resource Center, 30% of youth in the United States have been bullied, are bullied, or are considered bullies themselves. Two main reasons people are bullied are due to “appearance and social status,” and bullies use various means to attack their victims. “Some are physically abusive, and others are psychologically and verbally abusive.” According to the TeensHealth website, verbal abusers often taunt and tease their victims, and this teasing can even go on over “e-mail, instant messaging, and texting.” Bullying and abuse has many different forms and countless victims, and all of you are familiar with it because you either are bullies, or you yourself have been bullied.Bullying, abuse, and verbal violence need to come to an end in our country. It is ruining lives every single day. The following story is from an online grief project and suicide awareness web-site called The Jared Story.April Michelle Himes was a fourteen-year-old girl in Washington who enjoyed painting, art, singing, and spending time with family and friends. She was in the eighth grade and had a wonderful sense of humor. However, her life was tragically cut short because of verbal abuse.On Valentine’s Day in the year 2000, April called her middle school and told them she could not come to school that day. She had been repeatedly and mercilessly teased, taunted, and harassed by her classmates, and the school told her she had to come to school, or she could appear before a board and possibly go to juvenile hall due to truancy. Tormented by this thought but not willing to go through another day of teasing, April hung herself in her room an hour later, ending her life because of the bullying she had endured. This is just one example of the harm bullying can cause.“Look at her shoes!” “Look at her hair!” “Can you believe what she’s wearing today?” I can remember my times of being bullied in school because of the way I looked or the people I was friends with. I can remember crying in my room at night because I was so hurt by what people were saying about me, what people were saying to me. I remember praying to God to give me friends who would be nice to me. I remember begging my mom for Adidas tennis shoes so I wouldn’t get teased for wearing an off-brand. I remember trying to hide myself in my desk because my peers laughed at my clothes. I don’t remember every detail, but I will never forget the pain.Even today, some of those comments still ring in my head; I don’t think I will ever forget the way I was hurt by other people just so they could have a laugh. Even today I am tentative to talk to those people who used to pick on me because I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t forgotten. I’m sure they have, but how could I? They made me cry myself to sleep with their venomous words.I have a dream that bullying in our country will come to an end. I have a dream that bullying in our school will come to an end. I have a dream that you people in this room will stop picking on each other, stop telling each other to shut up and get a life. Think of what a place our world would be without the violence and pain caused by words.That childhood saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is one the worst statements ever made. Stick and stones will break bones, and now I believe that sticks and stones would have been better than words. At least those wounds would heal. Works Cited“Bullying Facts and Statistics.” National Youth Prevention Resource Center. 27 December 2007. 12 December 2008 HYPERLINK "" .“Dealing with Bullying.” TeensHealth. 1995-2008. 12 December 2008 .“Suicide. Bullying. Depression.” . 12 December 2008 . ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download