The Survival in University
The extreme pressures that the school youth face in Britain.
It was the final year of high school for Jenny, and nothing seemed pleasant for her. She had nothing going for her in life. The school life was a constant walking nightmare. She had nothing to look forward to, no hobbies whatsoever. Nothing. She just had emptiness taking over her life and the daunting moments of school. The torment, fright and trauma that just kept brewing and brewing. Soon enough, in a flash of a moment, the only comfort seemed to have been was the thought of an extensive amount of pills and being set free from all the anguish and agony. It has recently been reported that an eight-year-old from Jacksonville is in the process of trying to help fight issues like bullying by writing a book which is planned to get released sometime in the summer.
Ultimately, Jenny did it. She finally acted upon her suicidal thoughts. In a spur of a moment, after hurrying towards her room feeling besides herself, extremely frantic and distraught, without any tremble in her hands or a shudder in her leg. Without the rapid beat of the heart and sweat streaming down her face and not giving anything or anyone aforethought, she reached for a multiple of pills, a combination of paracetamols and pills that are originally used to cure infections.
Then impulsively ingested a mouthful of them in her mouth with no ounce of remorse drawn on her face. “It got to the point where I was like I can’t do it anymore. I just made a decision, I didn’t think twice”, she recalled. Straight after, she strangely sat herself down and tried to express her thoughts and feelings through a letter to her beloved family, a final farewell. But she could not bring herself to write anything. A sense of panic and tension started to arouse instead. “I felt that there was not enough time and there was not enough paper and enough ink to put everything that I wanted down and say my goodbyes”, she said.
The feeling of hopelessness and insignificancy developed between the ages of 5-6. It grew and grew for ten long horrendous years. It slowly and steadily was withdrawing Jenny from the pleasures of school and even her own self. “On a constant basis, I had trouble making friends and socialising. So, yes, I was a victim of bullying for a very long time. I was bullied throughout my entire education, in primary school and in secondary school”, she said admittingly, recapping back to her dreadful times. Even today, the reason for such torment and abuse still seem ambiguous to her. “Who the f*K knows why people do the things they do”, she expressed, sounding uncertain of such dreadful deeds.
Charities like ‘Megan Meier Foundation’ try to tackle issues like bullying and support those who are experiencing suicidal thoughts. It’s an organisation built to prevent these devastating incidents from taking place and try to make the world a place where bullying and cyberbullying no longer exists. “We believe that through empowering our society to celebrate individuality and the acceptance of others, that we can work together to make a difference and create a safer and kinder world”, declared Tina Meier, the mother of the late Megan Meier and the founder of ‘Meghan Meier Foundation’.
Eventually, sixteen-year-old, Jenny just wrapped herself up in her gentle, soothing soft blanket as her body was trying to come to terms with the extreme amount of pills that she took. She sat on her bed while her tears started streaming down her cheeks. It constantly kept running down her teary face while she bizarrely started to reflect on the positive aspects of her life. “I started thinking, I would never see my grandmother again, who is very dear to me. I would never see my friends. It’s the small things you don’t really pay much attention to. I’m never going to travel, never going to do this, never going to do that”, she expressed openly.
Therefore, the feeling of guilt and remorse started to sink in as she began to realise the seriousness of her action as well as the consequences leading to it. So, with tears still flowing down her eyes she tried to seek help from her parents, and only her mother showed her some importance. “I said I’ve tried to kill myself and I asked my dad to take me to the hospital. He flat out refused to do so”, she recalled. “He just kept watching TV”. Her mother made some concoction to get her to vomit out the overdose pills then took her to the A&E in an ambulance.
Overall though, Jenny’s parents were not so supportive of their tormented daughter during her harassment phases. Instead, the only advice she was given was to deal with it by using violence. “When I was getting bullied in Primary School my mum told me if I got hit I should hit them back. For a person who I looked up to and who has more life experience than I do, that’s all they’ve given me to work on”, said Jenny. Reportedly 8-year-old Akire Williamson has featured a journal with her book, and it is in aid of those harassed individuals that are too hesitant to confide in their parents regarding their bullying issues. This journal allows them to confide in their parents without having to verbally say anything and their parents can still be aware of what’s happening and be a supportive parent for their daughter or son.
Once Jenny finally reached the hospital the doctors and nurses did all sorts of tests to figure out exactly what she had taken. They checked her blood pressure, heart rate and did a blood test too. During the whole process, Jenny seemed to have been in excessive agony. “I remember bed riding in pain as my stomach was trying to process these toxins and get them out”, she said, vividly. The whole time her mother simply sat at a corner occupied with a novel. “It was a very hard thing to process by myself.”, she explained. Eventually, the doctors reassured her that she would be fine. She did some damage to her organs, but she will live.
Akire Willamson, the author of Twinkle, is trying to put an end to bullying as she too was a victim once. Now she is determined to make a stand against the concept of harassment and put a stop to it by sharing her own story through the usage of fictional characters featured in her book. So, once the book is released in the summer, the readers can understand the cruelty of the situation and get inspired to not become a bully too, along with additional tips and advice to encourage and motivate them even further. “I want to inspire people to not think about what other people think about them, they can be themselves”, the young girl declared
Similarly, celebrates such as Katie Price, a television personality and glamour model, made a stand against cyber-bullying as Trolls attacked her son online with unpleasant and nasty messages in regards to his disability. She has launched a Government petition with the hope that bullying becomes a criminal offence. “This petition is an important topical issue, and I want to help bring justice to everyone who has ever suffered at the hands of trolls.”, she declared. “Help me to hammer home worldwide that bullying is unacceptable whether it’s face to face or in an online space” According to ‘London Evening Standard’, the petition has already gathered 38,300 signatures and if it succeeds in reaching to 100,00 then the petition may need to be brought to attention in parliament as a form of debate.
Jenny soon graduated from Academy at Peckham. She then entered sixth form yet still, being haunted by her high school memories. At certain points, her entire body started to shake and tears would once again come streaming down her face whenever she would hear her tormentor’s name, “I was absolutely petrified of that girl”, she said, admittingly. “Sixth form was really hard for me as it was like an adjustment period. The effects of bullying don’t just go away just because you have left the environment or the person who bullied you is not there anymore”.
Unfortunately, just like her parents, Academy school did not provide Jenny give any help and support either. They did not prevent incidents like a juice cartoon being thrown at her or from receiving verbal abuse “I don’t know if it was the case that they didn’t have the training or didn’t know how to deal with these situations.”, said Jenny. “It makes you feel insignificant like you don’t have any value.” Other young individuals in a similar situation to Jenny have encountered harsh abusement or neglection too. For instance, things like “Other people at school tell me to die” or “Everyone hates me”.
Organisations such as the “Papyrus” deal with these sorts of problems on day to day basis. Its mission is to stop the youth like Jenny from resorting to suicide over hurtful and devastating incidents and to seek guidance and advice instead. “It can be daunting for a distressed young person to know what help is available, who to approach and who are the best people to talk to”, stated Rosemary Vaux, Press office of the charity ‘PAPRYUS’. “We have a wealth of information online and this can be reassuring – to know that how you are feeling can be the same as many other young people”, she explained.
Now Jenny has gradually managed to recover and move on from those extreme dark moments of life even though the suicidal thoughts still come and go at times. “I won’t lie and say that I haven’t had them but it’s not been something that driven me to go and resort to extreme measures.”, she said, admittingly. She has sought enormous comfort and motivation from successfully being able to secure a place in university and get a 9 to 5 job as well as have the company of her supportive friends. “Makes me feel proud and worthy”, she expressed, openly. “Gives back the confidence, self-esteem and self-value. It’s these small events that helped me cope and recover on a day to day basis. Not a person or action”, she stated with great confidence.
A girl who lived in Camberwell and knew Jenny from her school days was also proud of what Jenny had achieved or accomplished despite her troubles and trauma. “I’m so proud of who you are. You are a completely different person to who you were back then”, she said, while chatting with her on Facebook.
However, even though Jenny did not see any personal benefits from any of the charities or campaigns made against bullying she still applauds and appreciates the fact that people like Katie Price or 8-year-old Akire Willamson are trying to make a stand against such horrible occurrences. “That’s amazing!”, she expresses. “It’s being more aware of what is going on with the people in our lives”.
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