I watched as my school filed into the auditorium. I was starting to second guess myself. Today was the day I gave my speech to the whole school. Today I took my stand against bullying I had witnessed. Everybody took their seats and quiet fell among the many faces, my queue that it was time to begin. I took a deep breath and began.
“Good Afternoon. I’m Alexis West, a fellow student here. I’m speaking today because I want to press the point that bullying is wrong. This might sound like a broken record but I don’t think a lot of you take it very seriously. As we all watched the bullying prevention video, I noticed people bullying those who were featured on the video.
‘Look at her nose!’ and ‘She looks weird.’ were among the many unnecessary comments. With this I do believe some of you don’t realize how serious this is. Some of you take it as a joke, and it makes me wonder what it would take for you to actually take this seriously! I’ve witnessed bullying, I've been a bystander. I did nothing to stop it. I was a quiet girl and I didn’t want to be popular but I didn’t want to be bullied myself so I kept quiet and laughed it off. I know for a fact there are bullies at this school. We constantly judge each other on looks, attitude, even judge our teachers. It’s human instinct but that doesn’t mean we have to bully people. Take a moment and please visualize someone having a tough time at home. Their father is abusive and their mother is always high. They use school as their only escape but when they get there they are bullied and beat up. What would you do if you witnessed it, did nothing, and later when you got home you turned on the news to find that student had committed suicide. Probably some of you have been in this situation. Is that serious enough for you? Your actions have consequences. If you decide to bully someone just know you maybe making their life miserable but it sure doesn’t make you any cooler. It makes you a horrible person and what goes around comes around. Nobody here is perfect so you bullies have no right to pick on other people. To the victims, I give you my apologies to you. You don’t deserve that at all. You are not worthless! And you are beautiful! Everyone has their own beauty and if someone can’t see that then they aren’t worth worrying about. I was scared to come to school along, afraid I would get bullied so I went to virtual school last year. I soon realized I needed public school, fresh air, and human interaction. I shouldn’t have been afraid and neither should you. Keep your heads up and talk to me if you need to. I’m willing to listen, if you are willing to talk. There are a lot of people who can relate to you so you are not alone. Everybody has insecurities, nobody’s perfect and nobody is above one another, everybody is equal. I hear a lot of people saying their voices are never heard so here’s your chance. They will listen. I’m one person and I can’t stop bullying alone so please stand with me and fight against bullying. You can actually make a difference. Use your voice for those who can’t speak, and those who have lost their lives. Be a hero, you can save a life.”

My ears filled with applause and tears streamed down my face. I looked up to the sky and said “Anthony this is for you. Rest in paradise my friend.”