Bullying doesn't toughen you up.* His life is summarized up by
his death and people will pick him apart on Internet forums,
just as badly as he was picked on while he was still alive.*
But, this was a real boy.* Really dead.* Really gone.* But...
he'll just be a new thing for people to talk about.* So I am
too.* It's important to learn to be tough if you are different
than those around you, but that doesn't mean bullying is ok.*
Life can be tough for everybody, even if all bullies went away,
which they probably won't. Pisses me off that in 2014 it can
still happen just like it always did.* I could tell stories.* My
mother had similar stories when she was little that happened in
her school as well.* Same age.* Same type of situation.* It
never changes. My grandmother who has been dead for 13 years and
she'd lived to 84, had stories from when SHE was a little girl
about boys who killed themselves from being bullied - and THAT
was a long time ago before ANY OF US HERE were even BORN. Yet
here we are.* Still happening.* No changes.* It never changes.
[continued after a wonderful response from a friend] I'm
honored.* I've never been the Internet's King before today, but
if there is ever an issue to be receiving the royal treatment
for, it's this one. I'm passionate about bullying, both from
treatment that I had received and also, the treatment I would
see inflicted upon others while in school.* I heard stories of
mistreatment.* Not just from kids vs kids, but teachers who
bully, parents who bully, adults who bully each other, people
who bully animals... I was lucky.* I never dealt with "swirlies"
(getting your face put in a toilet and flushed) but I have been
the target of groups that felt akin to being Piggy for a day
from "Lord of the Flies".* I knew kids who got worse treatment
than I. I even watched some of the bullies words come out of
myself on a couple of occasions, as I tested out this wicked
power myself, then watched the hurt my words or actions had on
my victim's face and my heart fell immediately and I
REMEMBERED:* I remembered that feeling. I understood the moment
of glee but it was immediately doused with the chasm of
emptiness that fell over me when I realized what I had done and
been the cause of. I learned to be internally stronger.* I've
always been a fighter.* I learned ways to escape the chasing and
hold my own in fist fights but I never mastered verbal abuse or
handling mental torment; the girl that stares at you until you
crack and you make the loud sound of rage that makes the whole
class laugh and the girl smug.* The ones that set you up so that
you get in trouble.* A few events of that nature caused me to
always pay attention to the teacher and ignore the students;
good for my education, horrible for my social life. I give that
everyday example, rather than the rocks hidden in snowballs
during a supposedly honest snowball fight that broke my glasses,
or being physically surrounded by a circle of Larger ones where
I became their plaything... because I think it is the less
dramatic examples; the ones that should be most easily
stopped... that slide by the most and are accepted as "normal".
But it's not. For this, like Chinese Water Torture, can cause
someone to find suicide as the only option, doesn't surprise
me.* Bruises heal but mental anguish only feeds on itself and
gets worse and worse. I'm passionate about this and I accept my
crown for a day on this issue.* And you, my friend , are a Real
Man.* Of this, I have no doubt. The powerless attacking the more
powerless, I understand.* I feel pity for bullies, both those
who know full well what they're doing, and for those who need
medication and aren't fully aware of the depth of consequence.
For they are also victims of the neglect of their hearts and
they are passing on the neglect to others by attempting to
destroy that "spark" in their fellow human. We can outgrow much
in our childhood and we do.* But some are wounds pasted over
with soap bubbles, easily popped in the future at any age, and
leaves parts of ourselves perpetually wounded. Thank you for
resharing my words.* I hope it helps someone out there.* This
boy will never live again.* I don't like using his story to
prove a point for he's NOT a story, he's a real person.* Who is
dead.* Living no more.* Gone forever.* It didn't need to happen.
