After attending this year’s Bullying Prevention conference, it only helps to solidify my stance on anti-bullying measures.

Bullying is a serious problem these days, a problem that has not gone largely unnoticed.

There have been some serious measures taken against bullying, and yes, while some laws were passed, part of me wonders if that is truly the best we can do.

People can talk about how they plan on stopping bullying, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

If you search online and type in bullying, some of the most common stories you will find on there are deaths caused by bullying, and a lot of these deaths are kids, young pre-teens, and teenagers.

These are people who have not even started their lives yet but because someone, or a group of people, thought it would be fun to make fun of them and pick on them.

It needs to stop.

I have seen bullying before and when I was younger, I was picked on as well.

Now, I am in my 20s and I have learned to move past it all, but there are some people out there who are still struggling.

Being bullied makes you feel small and less important than the people around them, and many of them feel trapped within their own misery.

One of my favorite bands, Rise Against, released a song a few years ago from their album, “Endgame” talking about the effects bullying can have on society.

The song, “Make It Stop,” talks about the suicides that happened during September 2010, the most known of these names being Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student who was a victim of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is becoming more and more of a problem these days.

Everyone is hooked on social media and think it is funny to leave hateful comments to someone, who they might not even know, and they have no idea the kind of destructive effect they can have on that person.

Being a bully does not make you strong, or cool, or even better than everyone.

If you have to pick on someone else to make yourself feel better, then you are the one with the problem, not them.

Everyone on this planet was born different, and it is because of these differences that it should bring people together, not tear us all apart.

To anyone reading this who either has experienced bullying or perhaps currently is, from someone who as lived through it, it does get better.

You guys are stronger than you think and at the end of the day, what matters is what you think of yourself, not what anyone else tells you.

It is because of my friends and my family that I am who I am today, and no matter what anyone else tells me, I am me.

Luis Martinez is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu