A Labour MP on Wednesday opened up about how he was bullied when growing up during an adjournment speech in Parliament.
Newly elected MP Malcolm Paul Agius Galea linked his experience to the Texas school shooting on Tuesday during which a teenage gunman killed at least 19 young children and two teachers at a primary school in Uvalde.
Now a doctor, Agius Galea recounted the story of a young boy who was not very good at sports and at times faced bullying, including physically, from his peers. That boy, he said, was himself.
He said America on Tuesday faced a "tragedy that shook the nation". The shooter, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos had been bullied because of the way he spoke, the way he was brought up and the way he dressed. He later dropped out of school Agius Galea said.
“I am here as a result of the bullying I faced, I decided not to let my experiences break me and with support and love from family and friends, I strived. Later on, I even met a man who had once defended me when I had been punched and thrown on the ground. Even though he had forgotten about me, I thanked him.”
He pointed out that, however, many became outcasts as a result of the bullying they suffered and they ended up taking drugs, facing post-traumatic stress disorders, needing psychiatric help, self-harming and, in some cases, even committing suicide.
He appealed for bullying to be taken more seriously and for one to look beyond the problem to see what was its cause.
“We need to address bullying from the root... Children, the future of our society, should be taught empathy."
More also needed to be done about bullying at the workplace, where some employees felt trapped and unable to speak out because of fear they will be fired.
“Verbal bullying, sexual bullying, based on someone’s gender or sexuality, and cyberbullying must all be addressed more aggressively.”
Agius Galea said that another side effect of bullying was solitude, an issue which should also be tackled.
He called for the setting up of a national campaign to address solitude, mental health and bullying.