It has been suggested that bullying is just a natural part of life and that everyone has experienced it and it is not a big deal. In my opinion, bullying is a big deal and there should be zero tolerance for it. From personal knowledge, I know that bullying can affect a person’s physical, emotional, social and intellectual well being. Most often the individuals that are bullied have certain characteristics that make them a target. These characteristics include things such as a tendency to have a shy and quiet personality and they tend to not retaliate or make assertive responses to an initial aggression; as a consequence, the bully feels encouraged to repeat an aggressive act towards that particular individual (CCFJS, 1996). Thus, the victim tends to become more isolated from other students because they are more inclined to lose their social skills; consequently, they lack a social support system at school. This causes a downward spiral in their self-esteem, which causes them to lose confidence in themselves and in their physical abilities and strengths (CCFJS, 1996). As the victims become more withdrawn they will often fear school because it will be seen as a place that is unsafe rather than a secure and fun environment for learning. For example, adolescents will begin to make excuses of feeling sick, so that they can avoid going to school, which in turn affects their learning and their intellect. Furthermore, bullied adolescents have a higher risk than non-bullied adolescents to have mental health problems such as depression and/or anxiety disorders. If the adolescent that is being victimized by a bully is harassed on a constant and consistent basis then it is very possible for that adolescent to become severely depressed. As a result, they will enter into a dark place in their life in which they would rather attempt suicide than to deal with the harassment and abuse they endure in the secondary school setting. The Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of British Columbia found that two-thirds of students will consider suicide by the end of high school. As well, there will be at least three students in an average-sized class that will attempt suicide by the end of high school (http://www.crisiscentre.bc.ca). This is an alarming statistic that demonstrates that suicide in adolescents is not an uncommon event. Ordinarily, this fact is often interpreted to mean that most teenage suicides are caused by depression. However, one can only take an educated guess as to how many of the suicides mentioned in this statistic are from depression due to bullying. As a general rule, psychologists believe that “some people have a genetic tendency towards depression, some develop depression because of environmental triggers, and some people can have both genetic and environmental triggers” (http://www.jaredstory.com). An instance of adolescent suicide due to bullying is Jared Benjamin High’s story. He was a thirteen year old boy that decided to end his life because he developed depression from constant bullying and an assault by a bully in his high school (http://www.jaredstory.com). Some other victims may take their anger and frustration out in a violent act; a majority of youths who have caused school-related violent deaths have been victims of bullying (CCFJS, 1996). A good example of such school violence is the incident that occurred in Littleton, Colorado in 1999. The particulars of this horrific event include: 14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves (IP, 2007). In the above example, the two adolescents responsible for this massive shooting had been bullied by several students in their high school. To continue, even if bullying does not result in suicide or a violent act towards others, the victimized adolescents still experience significant psychological harm which interferes with their social, academic and emotional development. If bullying behavior does not stop, then some adolescents will develop long term problems such as anxiety, insecurity, low self-esteem, loneliness and depression into their adult years (CARRN, 2004).