05/09/2026
โ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ | ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ โ ๐ผ๐ฃ๐ฉ๐-๐ฝ๐ช๐ก๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐พ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฃ
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โWe Deserve Peace and Love, Not Trauma
โOne joke. One laugh for thousands. Funny to those who made it, yet hurtful to the person it was meant for.
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โBullying can begin with something as small as a joke, a comment, or a laughโbut its impact can stay long after everyone else has moved on. It may take one person to start it, but it takes one more to stop it. Be that one more.
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โThey call you dramatic when you speak up. They call you pathetic when you stay quiet. Somehow, either way, you become the target. But you are not a toy for someone else's entertainment. You are a person.
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โEveryone deserves to feel safe, heard, and respected. We should be the buddies who make others feel welcome, not the bullies who make them afraid to speak. A voice is meant to be heardโnot silenced by the crowd.
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โYet bullying is not always as simple as pointing at one โmean kidโ and calling it a day. People can learn harmful behavior from the environments around them. Constant teasing, harassment, body-shaming jokes, and mocking someone's flaws can be influenced by what a person sees, hears, and experiences at home, online, or among their peers.
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โThat, however, does not make bullying acceptable.
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โUnderstanding where harmful behavior comes from is different from excusing it. A difficult experience may influence how someone treats others, but it does not remove their responsibility for their actions. Others may also imitate bullying because they see it as entertaining, popular, or a way to gain attention. What begins as imitation can become a habit if nobody challenges it.
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โAnd sometimes, the person causing the harm may not even realize how deeply their words affect someone else.
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โBased on psychology, they found that a person can act because their mind creates the illusion of happiness in that kind of doing. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, we should still spread kindness; therefore, even the smallest things can eventually get bigger if everyone participates.
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โThat is why stopping bullying cannot depend only on the person being bullied. It also depends on the people watchingโthe classmates who can choose not to laugh, the friends who can choose to speak up, and the bystanders who can choose to stand beside someone instead of standing by.
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โA single act of kindness may seem small. So can one person refusing to join in. But small choices can become bigger when more people make them.
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โWe cannot control every thought that enters someone's mind, nor can we erase every difficult experience a person has faced. But we can choose what we do with those experiences. We can choose empathy over humiliation, understanding over cruelty, and kindness over silence.
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โBecause no one should have to be afraid of using their voice. We are more than the hurt others cause us. We deserve peace and loveโnot trauma.
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โ| by Maryene Jade Tandang
โ| Edited by Rexie Cate Malbog
