Heath Shuler

This is my 4th paper, and I actually think this one could cause a good effect on the nation. Take a read!

Dear Congressman Shuler:

I wanted to take a quick moment to bring a major issue to your attention. As you watch the recent news, there is more of a chance that you will run across news of a teen committing suicide or a teen being admitted into a treatment center because of constant bullying that they have experienced in their life. I want to describe how bullying acts can affect the life of a teenager, and to explain with a few examples that you probably may be familiar with.

While some think that teen bullying is simply stealing one’s lunch money, it is actually much worse, and more life threatening. According to teenhelp.com, 30% of American teenagers are victims of bullying. And statistics show that long-term effects of teen bullying include not feeling safe, skipping school to avoid bullies, acting in violent ways, and increased risk of depression, self abuse and suicide.

A well known example is the gay teen Tyler Clementi. He had a promising future, performing in the popular Rutgers University orchestra. His life was changed when his college roommate publicly “outed” him on the web, after his romantic encounter with another male. This occurred twice, one being filmed from a hidden camera. Via Twitter, Tyler’s roommate shown his opposition, and then invited his followers to view Tyler’s encounter live.

Humiliated by the event caused by his roommate, Tyler jumped off of the George Washington Bridge. Tyler is just one of the many gay teen suicides and bullying incidents that we have heard on the news lately, due to their sexuality being exposed, or being bullied because of their sexuality.
Another prime example is the Disney star Demi Lavato. She is the most recent case that we probably have heard of. As a little child, she was a star on Barney, and then moved to being a huge TV, music and movie star with Disney. But we have heard that she is now in a treatment facility because she has been dealing with self abuse such as cutting, and dealing with the eating disorder anorexia. She says that this is a result of bullying.

So Congressman Shuler, teen bullying is a very big problem in this country right now, and should be recognized on the national level. It is obvious that bringing no attention to this issue has possible deadly consequences. I feel that uniting the nation as a whole could help end this crisis. I hope that by writing to you, the nation can work together to end this type of behavior, and hopefully make the nation’s environment safer for bullied victims.

-Tyler