2010-2011 Creative Writing Third Place Essay by Shoshy Ciment

THIRD PLACE WINNER

It All Comes Down to Respect
By Shoshy Ciment

       As I turn on the news, my heart sinks.  “13-year-old commits suicide over bullying at school.”  I change the channel and the same story repeats, only this time, it’s a new victim in a different school.  Silently I wonder: what could have prevented these terrible tragedies?

       One of the first lessons a child learns is to respect his parents.  In preschool teachers encourage that lesson and then expand it to include respecting toys and belongings.  Somewhere between middle school and high school those lessons seem to get lost.  People start to think about themselves and what is good for them.  It no longer matters what other people feel.  This is when bullying becomes a problem.

       Bullying is one person’s inability to respect another.  So many people have been victims of bullying and disrespect.  If people were just tolerant and had respect for each other, bullying would not be the issue that it has been for centuries and lives would be spared.  This lack of respect happens in every town, school, and society.  It is more than just a random news story, to view from a distance.

       I have sat in bullying seminars in school and have heard people say things like, “I hate you because you have no style,” or, “I don’t like you because you’re awful at sports.”  The anger inside me threatens to explode and all I want to do is scream out, “Why do you care if she can’t put together an outfit, or he can’t save a goal for his life?  It’s not about that!  It’s about who they are inside!”  Respect is not just standing up when a teacher enters the room or dressing appropriately.  It is about taking people seriously and listening to their opinions, even if it is not one you share.

       And so I shut off the news that day, finally realizing what my parents and teachers have been trying to teach me all along.  Respect is not easy, but it is a fundamental element of being part of the human race.  Maya Angelou said, “If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die.”  Hopefully, those students I heard about in the news will be the last to die from that loss of respect.  Hopefully, the world will learn how important respect really is.

Shoshy Ciment,
Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy