No More!

“The annual age-adjusted suicide rate is 13.42 per 100,000 individuals.  On average, there are 123 suicides per day.”

These are just a few heartrending stories of adolescent suicide.  According to the bullystatistics.org website, “Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year.  For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts.”

What’s happening to our babies?

Trying to disconnect a child from their device is like a death sentence to them.

We’re living in an era of technology; regretfully, I must say that it’s been more of a curse than a blessing.  Our children live, breathe, and drink their devices.  Have you ever seen a child without one?  Impossible right?  Trying to disconnect a child from their device is like a death sentence to them.  Sorrowfully, social media has issued out a death sentence of its own upon our youth.  Not only are they being bullied, ridiculed, and disgraced at school, but also in their homes.  It seems inescapable!  And the need to please, the longing to fit in, to belong, has perplexed young minds into believing that if you’re not “normal” than you’re nothing at all.

What is “normal” anyway?

My babies, you must understand that even before the beginning of time you were chosen.  You were loved so deeply that every single hair on your head has been numbered.  Your fingerprints are like no other.  Your features were carefully molded into perfection.  Your personality was profoundly thought upon.  Yes, my prince and princesses, you were loved before you were a sparkle in your moms and dads eyes!

Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said.  People will forget what you did.  But people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

So before you select the post button, before you open your mouths to speak, before you make the decision to impose a negative action.  Stop and think of how that person may feel.  Think as if it were you in that situation.

I was young once and understand the pressure of wanting to belong.  But if everyone was the same, what would the excitement in that be?  Where would all the beauty this world has to offer come from?  Our uniqueness as individuals helps the world go round.  We all have different gifts, talents, and skills.  If there were only one skill set there wouldn’t be different genres of music, movies, games, or even the color of people.   A person’s differences shouldn’t be their tag to be mocked.  We’re all different!  So let’s put an end to the horrible trend of cyberbullying, of bulling all together!  Making social media a place of uplifting comfort, not a place where we dread seeing our names/pictures tagged in a post.

Social Media

Your mind becomes clouded with the likes and dislikes of what you may post,

Addicted to someone else’s opinion of you when it should be yours that matters the most,

A device with so much information for some became a tool for degrading,

An object that has been used by sick minds for child pornography and baiting,

A new way of bullying has now been imposed,

A snap-chatting torture of false information exposed,

Young hearts so heavy, their way of solving a problem is used with a gun,

Fed up with the emptiness felt by those who’ve mocked them for fun,

Self-worth is becoming more materialistic, it’s now bringing pain,

People are killing for the hell of it, then pleading insane,

Authorities are using their positions to cover up “white collar crime,”

A bribe to the helpless leaving those who refuse to follow behind.

There’s a thief in the night determining a way to get in,

Robbing us of our possessions, casting all we’ve worked hard for to an end.

Yet, our eyes still remain shut, how much more will it take

For us to reach our turning point and recognize what’s at stake?

~From Exposed Poetry Memoirs