Edge

Photo courtesy: https://unsplash.com/@icanshoottoo

When school grounds go virtual, bullies go online.

Cyber bullying is real. So real that India ranks right up there in cyberbullying. There’s constant badgering online, whether through social media platforms, online games, chat apps… but never limited to this. It makes children more vulnerable emotionally because the messages spreading falsehoods, threats, jokes meant to humiliate and embarrass the targeted individual, are there online for everyone to see, 24×7. And because digital messages are so easy to share forward, they are pretty much thgere forever… They can push a child to self destruct.

Edge

Edge

he stood for a long time
at the edge of his world

his stomach rise
vertigo, nausea, in a swirl
it was scary to think
about how hard he would
hit the ground
and he worried too about
how mom’d take the news
but then he remembered
those kids in school
poking fun at him
taunting, bullying always
cos he was not as cool
a sharp pain stabbed
at his chest
he hated himself when
they plastered
hateful posts
all over the Internet
telling him always
to just go die
so now that’s exactly what he’d do
he’d show them how it’s done
and be free of the hate
finally
that last thought floats
in the air
before gravity takes over

Jyotsna Atre
April 06, 2021

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z challenge