THE INNER BULLY IN ALL OF US

Oi!! Shorty! Dumbo! Nerd! Looser!” Were you alarmed?

Well, these are some of the names that bullies call their victims.
Perhaps, some of you have been called such names in your
lives, or worse still, if some of you have called others these
names all in the names of fun.
Good morning to the honorable judges, loyal time keeper,
wonderful teachers and fellow contestants. I am very honored
and glad to be here today, sharing my thoughts and view on a
topic which is “ The inner bully in all of us”.
Did you hear that Malaysia is facing the most number of
bullying cases in schools? Well, I mean other than the
occasional, grainy video of a school bullying incident that gets
widely circulated online, I mean there’s hardly any report of
such incidents. Why? Why is it then that any of us would not
expect Malaysia having the most number of school bullying
cases?
Is it because we are under the assumption that our school
discipline systems are tough enough to sniff any bullies and nip
any potential ones in the bud? Why it is then that bullying is
still persist in our society? Why? It is because you can’t tell a
bully from how he or she looks like. Let’s imagine that I’m
currently dressed like how people think a bully would be
dressed like. But does that make me a bully? Or does that just
make look thuggish? Well, my actions would determine if I’m
a bully or not. If I hurt your feelings, then I’m a bully. If not,
then I’m just looking thuggish. Simple right? But why is it that
bullying persist in our society among school students?
It’s because sometimes the person that you least expect to
be a bully can actually be one. For example, the person that is
the friendliest to you, the most innocent looking, may be even
a prefect, could be the most venomous bully behind your back.
And it is because we don’t recognize his or her actions and we
don’t try to suppress them.
So, how can we eliminate bullying in our society then? We
need to recognize, we need to acknowledge that there is an
inner bully in all of us. Oh I believe that there is mean streak in
all of us that makes us want to belittle someone, so that he can
prove to be much better than that person. I believe that there’s
a hideous side of us that makes us want to broadcast their
mistakes to a group of people so as to publicly humiliate them.
Oh l believe that it’s just that insensitive side of us want to post
an unflattering picture of our friends on Facebook and just
publicly humiliate them online. But is that right…? Is that
morally right to make matter worse?
 Nowadays, we’ve very easy access to the internet and to
the social media, so it’s very easy for us to mask our malicious
intensions behind fake identities and fake personalities by
posting a rude comment and leaving a smiley emoji next to it
and, voila, you have birth of the cyber-bully. So, my friends are
we lost to bullying, are we lost to the inner bullies in us?
No, oh l believe if we can check our motives, if we can
think what consequences our actions can cause, if we can put
ourselves in the shoes of the victim then we can stand up to the
inner bullies in all of us . So, my friends, let us stand up to the
inner bullies in all of us and remember blowing out someone
else’s candle does not make yours shine brighter.
Thank you.