After reading Jonathan D’s, “How I changed for the Better,” you will truly feel as if you had too, changed for the better. The article told about how Jonathan went into an assembly about bullying completely despising the school, and her requirement to attend, but came out of there impacted greatly by the words spoken. The speaker was a father, his name was John Halligan. His son had committed suicide due to a bunch of pranks and mean comments from school bullies, and his father had been visiting schools to share his devastating story ever since.

“During these profound 150 minutes of my life, I thought over every nasty thing I had ever done that affected another person,” Jonathan stated. That was ultimately what there is to get from this article. The outcome the writer had from that experience is exactly what the speakers for these assemblies hope to accomplish. John Halligan is just an average person, so was his son, it was what happened to them that distinguished their experience. Comparing a random, childish act of bullying to what happened to Ryan Halligan, makes it seems like it will never be a big enough deal compared to something so tragic. Well, that’s the whole point of these assemblies, suicide prevention. They want you to know that no bullying case is something that should be tossed aside and not confronted. Because cruel words and acts of hatred are like building blocks, they stack up until you feel like you feel like you cant take it anymore and that suicide is the only option.

Suicide shouldn’t be the option, and bullying seems to be one of the main causes for many of the teenage suicides happening today. The article stated how the transition from a happy kid to a teenager looking like he’s hiding this terrible pain was quite visible within Halligan, but nobody took a chance to change that. The help of someone else could’ve kept so many lives here today, but apparently it’s much too hard to stop standing in the sidelines and stand up for someone. They don’t have to be your friend, but you’d make a difference to someone who might not show it, but is crying out for help.

That’s what Jonathan learned from this assembly, and that’s what I got from this article. He had changed for the better because he knew that we all go through this, being hurt by a bully, being a bully, it happens. A bully isn’t someone who steals your lunch money and gives you wedgies. A bully can be just a simple person who had tormented someone online, not even thinking that they could be affecting them so greatly. So try watching how you treat people, you never how deadly a comment could really be.