A Sample Speech about Bullying

Search
 

A very relevant persuasive speech topic for high school is bullying. It affects most students
in one way or another - those who've been bullied, those who've bullied others, and those
who've witnessed bullying.

This speech - submitted by a visitor to this site - is an excellent example.

It's powerful, well written and uses a very poignant personal experience to make a point. Its
object is - quite simply - to persuade you to be yourself and do what you know is the right
thing.

Thank you, Cindy, for sharing this speech with us (which will undoubtedly help those trying
to create their own), but also for sharing this moving personal experience.

Start of Sample Persuasive Speech for High School

Humans... we are believed to be the smartest creatures on earth.

We have our own special ways of communicating and acting around others. In fact, every
single day, we talk, act, and behave so that our words and actions meet the primitive
expectations of society.

I like to think of my entire body as a coffee machine; my heart the multi-colored coffee
beans before they're ground; my mind the filter, and my words and actions as the coffee.
And what happens to coffee beans? Before you put them into the machine, all of them are
multi colored and special in their own ways. But after they are ground up and blended
together, the uniqueness within each bean is obscured. Once they have traveled through
the filter, all people can see is just the plain coffee that they wanted. Nobody will ever see
the rainbow colored beans in the darkish brown liquid. Just like nobody can see your initial
thoughts and decisions, that are at conflict with your words and actions. All people can see
and taste is the generic, finished product.

Maybe you're afraid that if you do not "filter" your original ideas and intentions, others will
reject or dislike you. Perhaps they will see your ideas and decisions as too strong or too
bitter, so you instinctively feel the need to change or to filter your coffee beans.

People would be so surprised if they saw MY original coffee beans. They would be shocked
when they found out the real person I am.

When I was in 4th grade, I transferred to a new school. It was my 5th week there when I
saw a kid being bullied on the playground. I was playing on the swings when I heard
screeching and screaming noises from the other far end. I asked the girl beside me what it
was all about.

She was like: "Oh, don't worry about it, it's just the 6th graders teaching the new kid in our
grade a lesson." She said it as if everything was so natural.

She then smirked then whispered in my ear: "Don't tell anyone that I told you this but he
has the plague!"

I was confused, so I asked her what kind of plague he had, and she told me "It's the 'nano
plague'."
She then explained that it was a virulent disease caused by nano worms that bit into your
face, causing a permanent red mark. And if others touched the victim or touched something
that he'd touched before 3 seconds had passed, they would be infected as well. Frankly, I
was dying to see what that that kid looked like.

When I got to the other side, I was astounded. I had never seen that many students circled
around and cheering about something. I squeezed my way into the center of the circle, but
the "plague" was nowhere to be found. All I saw were the backs of two or three tall guys
dressed in our school uniform. They all seemed to be pointing, and talking to something on
the floor. Even though I didn't quite get what they were saying, and I couldn't quite see who
or what they were talking to, my assumption was the plague.

Then I saw that most of the older spectators were laughing, so I laughed with them. As if
the things the tall guys were saying were amusing in some way. After a while I actually
started to enjoy myself. Gradually the guys at the back started moving aside. My heart beat
rapidly as I stretched out my neck for a better view of the inner circle. I was actually
expecting to see a monster looking plague or perhaps a clone of Frankenstein or something.
But to my surprise, it was just a normal boy.

He might not have been the most stylish person I'd seen, he might have had glasses that
were way too big for his face, he also might have a birthmark that covered up a little less
than one third of his face, but to me, he was just a normal human being. Who deserved to
be treated like one. The smirk gradually vanished from my face. It was then that I realized
that this was not a game, this was not something funny, this was bullying.

For a moment, there were just way too many thoughts and ideas going through my mind,
and I was just overwhelmed. I remember thinking and asking myself questions like: Should
I go in and help him? Should I at least stop it and tell an adult?

But instead of following my heart, and doing what was right, I froze. I froze there like a
statue, too shocked to even blink. The shouting noises seems to have faded into the
background. And I seemed to have faded in my own world. I regretted that I'd ever laughed
at him. The feeling of complete melancholy, the feeling of downright regret and hatred, the
feeling of resentment made an alliance and loomed over me. I felt like I was gagging on
salty waters, but too afraid and too bashful to use my arms and legs to swim to the surface.

He must have noticed me, for he looked up at me with all the strength he had left. He was
bruised all over his face. For about ten seconds, he looked at me and I looked at him. He
then mouthed the words: "Help, please."

Instead of standing up for him, I backed down.

I walked backwards, further and further back until I stumbled and fell out of the circle of
spectators. I looked in his direction until the gap in the crowd started to fill in. Then I
walked away fighting back tears.

I wanted to march up and tell the aggressors and the spectators that what they'd done was
inhumane. I wanted to tell everybody that they did not have the right to pick on a boy one
third of their size, they did not have the right to tell a boy that he wasn't beautiful, just
because of a subtle birthmark on his face. I wanted to tell them that they were the
definition of ignorance and failure. I wanted to tell them that what they were doing was
wrong!

But instead, I walked away and let the victim down.

Three years have passed since the incident, and a lot has changed and happened. But
strangely, that scene is as clear and concise in my mind as it was then. The regret and the
pain stings just as much as it did then. The incident has became a scar that has formed on
my heart and never seems to heal. It's like a curse that can never be broken.

I'll bet he has forgotten and hated me for what I have done. And I have hated myself for
not speaking up. But I know that it's too late now and I have already lost a chance to be
brave and to be myself.
So with this opportunity, I wanted to show and tell everybody that: Sometimes, the things
you see about me are only the things I reveal. The things you think you know about me are
only the things I let you know about. There is much more of me that I haven't revealed, of
which you have absolutely no idea.

Perhaps the reason that people are afraid to reveal their true identities is that they might
think their thoughts are too bitter, unlikable, unique and different. I'm a great example of
that! I could have followed my heart and stood up for the boy, but instead, I went with the
flow and didn't help a person in need.

I hope that people will learn from my experience and stop filtering their own unique coffee
beans just to go with the flow. Please always be the person that you really are. I want to tell
everyone that it's okay to go upstream. You don't always have to end up in the same
position as others. And that's what makes this world colorful.