Everyone has an identity. We’re all one of a kind. There is no one like us. Some people want to change you but everyone should respect other people the way they are. You don’t have to like a person but you shouldn’t tell them how they should live. You can’t change the way you are and no one should tell you what to be. Negative people shouldn’t be around you. They only bring you down. You can change a person way of thinking by giving them guidance. It’s up to the person to take it or not. There is a lot of issues in the world and only awareness can change attitudes. No one is perfect. Everyone has flaws and we should all accept them. We can’t all like the same things or wear the same outfits. If there wouldn’t be different personalities, what a boring place this would be.

I’ve been taught to respect different kinds of people. Since I was a child, I become familiar with disabled people. I’ve even been friends with a few. Others might look at them strangely or have been afraid to approach them. But they’re like everybody else. They have own thoughts and they are smart. They just happened to be disabled. It’s not their fault they’re born that way. The same goes with people who have different sexualities or a different skin colour. They are people like everyone else. Yet, some people see differences as a bad thing. You can’t change something that people are born with. No one can stop being what they are. Attitudes can be changed towards other people.

Bullies usually bully someone who weaker than them. Someone who is different. Kids can be really cruel when it comes to differences. If parents don’t teach kids how to behave at home, they can’t know how to be with other people. If the parents have the same attitude toward people who are different then kids are gonna act the same way. As long as adults allow bullying, it’s gonna continue. Being bullied doesn’t build character and bullying doesn’t belong to childhood. It makes a person feel worthless and it will affect their whole life. Bullying doesn’t need to be physical. Words hurt even more. Bullies are the one with the problems. When they can’t get attention at home, they find it somewhere else. Kids are not the only one who bullies. Also in the working world but it’s not talked about as much as kids. Which is a shame since adults can be even worse. If kids continue bullying as adults, things have gone too far.

I wasn’t physically bullied but I haven’t really completely got without it. They were too cowardly to say anything to my face. It was alienating and whispering. It did affect me in a way that I didn’t trust people as much as before. But it didn’t make me think of myself as a failure. I became stronger mentally. I wouldn’t let these experiences spoil my confidence. When I read about bullying, it makes my blood boil. No one should go through this. I’m glad my childhood and youth are not now. On the internet, it’s so easy to stay behind a username and write nonsense to a person. I can’t even imagine how it is to be bullied online. There you can’t defend yourself. People don’t realise that you’re also a bully if you let it happen. The bystanders who are too afraid to tell the bullies to stop. My teacher knew there was something going on but she didn’t do anything about it. I was lucky I didn’t need to be in the class for many years. Some are bullied for years. The longer it happens, the more difficult it gets to get over it.

I am what I am and don’t try to change me. I’m totally fine the way I am. I’m never doing things what others tell me to do. I have a mind of my own. A few have tried to change me but they have failed. I’m not here to please people. I only care about those who deserve it. Life is too short to think about shallow things. It’s what on the inside that counts. If you take my identity away, I’m like everyone else. I dare to be different and so should many others.

Tallenna