Erin Lamb

        Black eyes, bloody noses, bruised arms and faces, and broken limbs. Visible wounds for the whole world to see. This is what we view bullying as, because we can see the damage of others. However there is another form of bullying that we do not visibly notice right away. Not everyone is willing to look past the exterior and dig deep into their mind to figure out if they are hurting. Most people will simply ignore a problem if they can not physically see it.

 "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes/ 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues/ Then you really might know what it's like"

People will always remember when they were wronged, tormented, embarrassed, and ridiculed rather than when they were praised. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Some people live by this, I call it nonsense. Give me the name of at least one person who likes being called a “fag”, “slut”, “fat”, “repulsive”, or  “freak”.  Not one single name comes to mind. These images bring this awful thought into reality. The first kid is attempting to erase 'freak' off of his locker, but as many times as he tries it will never go away. The locker is his memory. his feelings. The word 'freak" will never be erased from it. It has been blackened by the hatred his receives. It has been trashed will awful messages about the way he look, dresses, fixes his hair. It really incorporates the emotional (pathos)side to the prey of bullying. I still remember the time I got called a 
'dyke' because of a short, hot-pink wig I had to wear in our school musical. And this was by someone who knew me and was also in the musical. For me it really hurts when I am referred to something I am not. I'll admit that I was a bit odd in elementary/middle school, but people never really took the chance to get to know the person I really was. All they saw was a little, messy haired girl who cried a lot. No one ever wrote 'freak' on my locker, but they wrote freak on my heart.

 "The pen is mightier than the sword" describes this next photo to the tee. This young child is being choked by the invisible hand of destructive language. It is way to much to handle. There is no glimmer of light, happiness or hope represented in the picture. This is a young boy. A boy who will grow up with the belief that he is a worthless nobody, who views the world only as a hate filled, disgraceful place. There is so much 'pathos' incorporated wrapped onto one small box. There are tears are rolling down the child's face, a painful look in his eyes, and a mouth that wants to scream but no one would take any notice.

This person was out and about minding his own business when some people beat him to a bloody pulp all because they thought he was gay. No. He is just as straight as they are.Those people had absolutely no clue where he came from, who he was, what he believes or about the life he leads. They assumed he was gay most likely because they thought him to be different. No two people are the same though. So what if that girl has bubblegum hair, or he wears skinny jeans and has piercing all over his face. She might dress in baggy jeans and over sized t-shirts but she is just as much of human being as the person next to her. This photo shows a lot of 'pathos' in it. His blood runs in the color of the rainbow, which represents why he was beat up and how he has now become an ally. He chose not to run away and hide, but to come out and show his support for others. Just like the first two examples, we see the hurt and torment that these people have gone through. However in this photo we do not see his eyes. A persons eyes can always give away their emotion, if that person says their alright.

                                                                  

The lyrics of "What It's Like" by Everlast ties the whole message together in 5.04 minutes. Throughout the entire song, we encounter the grittiness of different lives around us. The lyrics tell an anecdote (story) of people that are bashed, abused, ridiculed, tormented every single day.

"We've all seen the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change
The hair on his face is dirty, dreadlocked and full of mange
He ask the man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes
Get a job you f****n’ slob's all he replied"       

    

In the music video we see the man attempting to 'fit it' with the rest of society, but they constantly sneer at him because he is smelly, ragid and without a home. The song is trying to tell us that there is so much more to the story.Most people tend to only look at the outside layer of other people. The homeless man holds his hands up in the air as if to say, why do these people dislike me? 

   

"Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love

And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walkin' through the doors
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner, and they call her a whore"

 Mary was just an average teenager who was very much in love with her boyfriend. he later abandons her after he gets her pregnant. Her life has been turned upside down and the only place she has left to go is the clinic, where even there she gets called a 'killer' and a 'whore'. She walks aimlessly around throughout the video as of she has given up on finding someplace that will accept her after all she has done. At different times in the video the homeless man, Mary, and the members of Everlast, appear to be  drowning in a giant pond. The pond represents the hatred and weight of their lives, pushing them further and further down, so they will never escape their horrible lives.

Each person in the photos or video have all been ridiculed and highly misjudged, especially due to their appearance. The gif shows a boy that would be classified as 'emo', the teenager was thought to be gay, the homeless man doesn't exactly wear designer clothing and Mary is now very far along in her pregnancy. No one knows who these people really are though.

“Before you talk, listen

Before you react, think

Before you spend, earn

Before you criticise, wait

Before you pray, forgive

Before you quit, try”

-Ernest Hemingway