Words. From youth they hold power over us. Children quickly learn that “yes” is good and “no” is bad. Without knowing it, kids learn the law that will guide all social behavior for the rest of their lives; acceptance is good, rejection is bad.

Pictures. It is said that they are worth a thousand words. If two words socialize a person for life, a thousand words hold the power to cause chaos or serenity in an individual’s world; it’s breathtaking how little is necessary to mold a mind, or change it.

Slut, stupid, ugly, bitch, weak, pussy, worthless, poor, weird, gross, awkward, whore, faggot, fat, slow, useless, trash, nigger, dyke, nothing

You hear it once; you might cringe or shrug and keep moving. When directed at you, there is that sinking feeling which should be reserved for rollercoasters.

You hear it again; it reminds you of the first time. After a while, you begin to wonder why you are associated with that word. Doesn’t matter; to everyone who says it, that is all you are. There is no “you” just___.

When words are repeatedly associated with something we all start to believe that word and the association are one, completely indistinguishable.

Associate a word with a person, why stop there? Write an e-mail, a message, send a captioned photo - make a song accompanying the photo! Why not? If another dissents, its one voice against many. Better to say yes than no, less I become called ___ too.

Yell from the shadows? My name and face will never be related? Then I’ll join the many; a faceless nodding chuckling head bobbing among the crowd. As long as I say “yes” no one will tell me “no” and as long as I remain faceless, no need to see the flaws in myself.

Its infectious, a disease, a plague, and deleterious to the mind; cyber bullying only hurts. Subjects of cyber bullying are left with emotional scars, destroyed friendship, and damaged families, sometimes for life, assuming they don’t take theirs.

The bullied are no longer tormented by one or two kids (not to downplay how painful this can be); for twenty four hours, seven days a week, a person can be bullied by anyone with access to the internet.

No longer does it feel like the whole world is looking down on you, someone you’ve never met is telling you so.   

Cyber bullying allows the weak to feel strong by harming others. The weak never become stronger and those scarred by the hijacking of our earliest socialization may never have the chance to live a life filled with love that everyone deserves.