This aint Africa bro. Yeah, fair enough, nobody in life has it easy. And jesus they really dont have it easy over in Africa, but that's besides the point. It's one sad thing if a child doesn't make it ten years old due to malnutrition or from being effected by war, but it's just as haunting and saddening when a child of ten years old see's no other possible alternative to relieve themselves of the abuse their going through than to kill themselves.

A lot of kids in Africa dont have access to the resources needed to stay alive, they dont have fresh water or even access to food for days on end. For a child on the opposite side of the world to have access to all of that, and have a very bright future ahead of them, only to snuff it all out because of the way they're treated is deplorable. It shouldn't be happening.

What should be done? It starts at home bullies are usually bullies because of insecurity and a need for control and dominance over other people they perceive as weaker. Children are a reflection of their primary care provider, there's no dodging that truth. Kids aren't always nice, but they're not born to hate people for being a difference race, religion, dressing a certain way etc.


I remember this Autistic kid would get picked on at school sometimes..stupid people playing off of his condition. I've had to tell people to lay off of him and other people all the time, it's bad enough to pick on someone for any reason, but because of a disability is even lower.

I remember spending most of my early years alone, getting called burnt biscuit for being black and fat for being chunky often and the strange thing is I didn't do anything other than be those two things.


I stopped caring and eventually people started to like my sarcasm wit and humor and I made friends. I've been on both sides of the unpopular/ popular deal. I'm not going to say I've always done right, but for the most part I used my new found clout for good purposes and to get people to lay off others.

Then I came out as gay in freshman year, I got so much shit even though I was well liked prior to that... a lot of stupid jokes and straight guys trying to troll with their, "look at my dick fag" , "are you the giving or receiving partner".
and my personal favorite, "you don't act gay and you're black so you can't be gay, that's just...wrong"


My reaction? I laughed at them or said one of my smartass remarks and stopped giving a shit. When they realized I wasn't pressed and mad as shit about it, people stopped. I've never been physically attacked, most likely because I was a bigger guy and fairly strong, the hazing never moved past the verbal stage but it could have at several times. I'm just thankful that I was strong and I had support from most of my grade.


If a situation escalates to violence self defense needs to happen and if you're too scared to speak up, a teacher, family member or friend needs to be told as soon as possible, bullying often times esclates because it is unchecked.


I have a friend, he's really popular and well liked...but he's a closest Atheist, he's so scared for people to find out he doesn't believe in god...he doesn't want to get harassed about it and after someone posted that people disturst Atheists as much as rapists, I guess it makes sense for him to feel that way.



That's the other Zach love.

Points where? That there are other kids dying in this world due to other reasons? I can see that as a big issue, but my point is to stop bullying, not people starving in other countries. Sorry for not making my subject clear.

So just because this girl died from killing herself, she's made to be looked like a fucking idiot because she knew how to kill herself? That her parents were not raising her properly becuase she knew how to hang herself? That she needed to be watched 24/7? There needs to be a reason why she was bullied? Really? I can't remember why there needs to be a reason for anyone to start tormenting someone that insanely to get kids to be too scared to go to school.

Remembering the article, her parents were actually trying to sue the school for not preventing these attacks a lot sooner than before. That the little girl actually went to teachers and other staff and did not get the help. This girl thought that there was no one left to turn so she decided to kill herself. And right now, she's being made to look like a horrible kid as well as her parents?

I'm lost at words right now with what I just read and can't believe this. I really can't. And if I didn't have to be at class right now, I'd seriously would continue writing about how stunned I am with this kind of response.

And just letting you know, there are kids this age that knows how to fire a weapon properly with the amount of video games that they played. Know that there are kids who are eight years old that plays GTA4 and Manhunt 2.

Oh, I never said you didn't know how it would be to be bullied.
I said you didn't know how harsh it can get. And your comment about you don't see why some people commit suicide because of it is the proof of it. Because if you knew, you wouldn't say something like that.

What bothers me is how people think bullying is the worst thing. Its not. Bullying is a problem but certainly not the worst. If a kid kills themselves over bullying maybe they are better off dead if they can't handle something like bullying. The girl never thought to tell someone? Get help? Nope. Just suicide. Sounds like her mind was made up.

The tragedies of Africa do not negate the impact of bullying in society....let's not negate one issue because one is also bad. I have a strong opinion on that particular subject, but I'm not going to derail the discussion further..

I was aware. I just wanted to reply to that. Not every day you meet another Zach, especially with the same exact spelling. Most I see is Zack or Zac.

Yeah, I'm getting off topic. Bullying sucks...

@ KS Oh my bad , well don't I look dumb as hell now lol.



..................


No, you're wrong, nobody is better off dead.


Do you even know the whole story? How do you know she didn't try?

Whether it's the worst problem in the world or not is not relevant, it really is not, it's still a problem.

You say bullying, I say human cruelty. It is not just kids who bully. Grown men and women are fully capable of bullying as well. What people fail to realize is what kind of impact it can have on those being bullied. It is mental torture.

Saying someone is better off dead, because they can't take the bullying, is just plain and simple disrespectful, and sir, you deserve a kick in the head for that.

But I guess someone who hasn't experienced it on such a scale won't be able to understand it.

I respect your opinion. But I diasgree. Im not saying that shes better off dead to sound like a prick but because she couldnt handle bullying. This to me is an indication that she was weak. Couldnt handle some namecalling or whatever they did. Besides all the pain and suffering she had in this life is gone. In that sense you should rejoice for her. Futhermore bullying and human cruelty are different. Human cruelty would be the Halocaust, genocides, ethnic cleansing, war atrocities, murder, rape, etc. Bullying is someone picking on someone they deem weaker than them. And yes I have been bullied before. But I can take a joke. And when he tried to really piss me off I let him know he couldn't mess with me. I made sure he wasn't going to bother me. I stopped that fucker from bullying me. Like I said before the only way to stop being bullied is to take a stand. And let the bully know that you wont be pushed around.

So call me a monster. Tell me Im disrespectful and that I deserve to be kicked in the head simply because I said my opinion.

So what you are basically saying is the weak do not deserve to live.
Aha...

Because we all know....bullying has never escalated to murder, rape, or other serious crimes...i.e. human cruelty.

So by that logic would you agree that she deserved to be bullied in the first place for letting it effect her so much?If that was someone in your class, who you seen being picked on every day, and you woke up one morning to hear that they'd taken their own life, would you hold the same opinion as you do now?

You make bullying sound like it's something as difficult as algebra and as tolerable as a cold sore. I'm far from PC but I think your being incredibly tasteless and disrespectful to suggest she's better off dead after commiting suicide. Your welcome to have that opinion but I'm obliged to tell you I disagree with it, especially since I was in her state of mind not too many years ago and I know how hard it can be to be the victim of bullying with no adults or authorities stepping in to pacify the situation. If it was frustrating for a then 16 year old, I cant even imagine how it felt for a vulnerable 10 year old.

Ten year old's dont just DECIDE on Suicide. What a very cold, flippant remark to make.

The narrowmindedness and ignorancy of some people... that's why things like bullying aren't taken care of.

No im not saying that. Im saying if she couldnt handle bullying I'd hate to see what else life had in store for her. Like if she got older and had a bf and found out her bf was on her, or if her parents got a divorice or she found her one of her parents had cancer. Im saying she didn't know how to handle a bad situation. And if bullying was too much for her what happens when life gets down? Would she still have turned to suicide?

What you fail to see is what bullying can do to a person. She could have started out confident and mentally fine, but because of bullying, that confidence crumbled to pieces and eventually lead to her suicide.

If she hadn't been bullied to begin with, her confidence might have gotten stronger as she grew, or if she faced something really bad when she got older, she could have gotten the help she needed to get past it, such as therapy or the like.

But no, she might as well kneel down and take a bullet to her head, right?

Someone says Im narrowminded and igonorant just because I dont feel the same way they do. Wow. And someone says Im narrowminded.... Please dont victimize me just because we dont share the same opinion. I might come off as a cold, inconsiderate jerk. But Im not. I do have compassion just not as much on this subject. I get it. You disagree with me. Fine. But saying Im narrowminded for simply expressing my opinion isnt very nice. I never said anything bad to you. Yet you say I deserve to be kicked in the head? Smooth...

the weak dont survive

hello everybody and welcome to the real world and guess what its a fucking BITCH
but theres not much you can do about it

if people see your weakness they will exploit it
some people dont give a flying about how you fell
they will shit on you and fuck you over
over and over again
but only if you let them

im not saying oh you need to physically big or strong
but you you need to be strong on the inside
the people that bully have issues and thats how they deal with it, and its not right at all
you have to learn how to deal with people
you can walk all over them


and i know theres cases, lots where physical abuse and sexual abuse come in to place
thats just fucking horrible but you need to get help at that point
talk to somebody

and you know i havent experienced much bullying well nothing extreme so maybe i dont have a clue what the fuck im talking about

but you cant let people push you around
you have stand up for your rights as a human being
and you dont have to be violent

suicide isnt just taking your life
your taking a part of the people in your family
your friends
life can be tough but you have to push through
you gotta stay strong
i mean as i mentioned today i heard from a holocaust survivor and i couldnt believe the things she went through
just fucked up things you dont want to imagine
i bet she has thought of suicide at times
but she made it and now many others have heard her inspirational story
that was extreme bullying

I can't believe some of you people. Saying that people who have killed themselves were weak and are better off dead? That is fucking pathetic. They were human beings, human beings who were pushed to their limit in the names of cruelty and "fun."

And while it may not be the leading cause of death in the world it is still a tragedy when someone takes their own life, especially if it was because they were victimized. Bullies aren't always respectful and won't always back off if you stand up to them. They are the trolls of the real world, they just keep pushing you and pushing you just to invoke a negative reaction.

I don't even know how to express my angry at some of your peoples' ignorance. There is no excuse for bullying and no excuse for blaming the victims of bullying.

Erhm, first of all... Victimizing means that you make yourself or someone else seem like a victim in a situation they are not.

Second, yes, you deserved a kick in the head for that comment of yours.

And third, yes, you are narrowminded and ignorant on the current topic that is being discussed here. How you are about other topics, I don't know, and I don't care, because that is not important at this point.

You can be the friendliest guy on the planet, helping old ladies across the streets, rescuing kitties from treetops or some other crap. I don't care. It doesn't change how you presented yourself and your views on this very topic.

You can have your opinion.

To be honest you cant stop it happens no matter what all u can do is either take it but i cant do that so i make myself cold to others and hide the real me only a few now the real me. But im glad there's people at lease trying.

Lol I have to laugh at that. You basically say a 10 year old kid deserved to kill herself for not being strong enough to handle being bullied to the point of suicide then cry victimisation when your collared on it. Can you not see the irony in that?

Either your trolling people or your just plain rude. But if you are genuine and serious about the fact you think a child, a minor, deserved to take their own life for not being strong or mature enough to deal with being bullied, well then frankly you should expect some retaliation. Personally I think with a view like that you deserve to be challenged on it, it's one thing to make a statement like that in regards to an adult, but dude your fuckin condoning a child's death.

Will I emphasise that word again? She was a child. 10 years old. When her biggest worry should have been not getting something off Santa for Christmas, she was more terrified about going to school and being picked on by her class. She had no help, nobody stepped in to save her, and that's all she had to look forward to for the rest of her academic year. Being stuck in an environment where she felt helpless, weak, isolated and useless thanks to her peers. And your saying she deserved to take her own life. A ten year old.

Way to go man. Take a good sniff of the crap you just posted earlier before saying your being victimised. Your entitled to your opinion, nobody's denying you that, but don't expect an opinion like that not to be challenged.

yea why would you say they are better off dead

thats just fucked

i mean i dont know the story maybe it was some really really bad stuff she went through at that young age
maybe she had no one at all
i dont know but can i blame her
no i cant
i mean if she had someone really close to her to talk with her and get her through it maybe it would be different

but when you have no one at all you dont know what to do

and people who are weak dont deserve to die
but they probably will have trouble in life, and thats just the way it is you cant really deny that
bullies will target weak people
thats why you should never show any weakness
keep your head up and dont let people get to you
you can get mad do whatever
they are winning no
you cant give them that satisfaction
and its unfortunate the way people are and can be
and sometimes it doesnt matter because assholes will beat it out of you and push you so fucking far you dont have much options and i dont know what to say about
thats why i really dont know what to say about suicide
as i said it it impacts everyone in your life so negatively
but ive never been pushed that far or been in a situation where to consider suicide
nobody should have to but yet it happens
was it the ONLY solution?
was there no other way?
i really dont know what to say about that

One is not weak if they feel that suicide is their only option left. I feel at times that suicide is a bit of a selfish answer, but unfortunately it's an answer that some tend to choose.

Reason why I think it's somewhat selfish, not completely selfish, like 25% of it I feel that way, is that there are ways to solve issues. Sure it might take a long time to get through the pain and suffering, but at times, things can get better. And that their family's have to suffer a loss and they'll feel the misery that it follows. Suicide is a difficult answer for some to take because it not only effects the person that killed themselves, it also effects everyone that person has been with.

But, I get that some choose suicide over trying to patch things up is because they feel that there is no hope, not gaining victory, feeling that there's no one left to help them, feel that everything is just turning into the worst thing ever. It's not fun dealing with a loss by suicide, it really isn't.

But I can assure you, that those who feel that way, and believe that suicide is their only answer, they're not weak. That's a pathetic thing to whip out.

The ten year old that killed herself, yeah you might think that there's more to that story than we know, but still, you have to realize that we're living in 2011, not 1990 where kids were still civil enough to be friends and not bullies. We live in a world where there's noting but hate being spread around the media and nothing gets solved. We're not living in a friendly world that we used to, we're living in a world that has people attacking others for reasons that I can't explain.

There can be ways to prevent bullying. For one, people can just stop being so damn rude. Look at how many people on this site comes on and just start making trouble out of nowhere and giving people a hard time on this site. Take a look at that. Was what you say really necessary? Do you really need to be rude? Do you really need to think that you can provoke an attack out of nowhere? Not just saying through the cyber world, I'm talking about real life.

Why do you need to say that one word that provokes the fight? Why do you need to touch people? Why do you need to insult? What's the point and why is that a reason?

All people just need to do is accept and deal that people will be different. I'm not sure how many of you will actually read this, but I wrote this on Facebook not too long ago. Telling my friends the things I've went through during my life. Hope you actually do read it and hope it means something to you all:

It amazes me to see what the world is going through. Throughout the past few weeks, I've read or seen on the news of stories about people taking their lives due to excessive bullying. The one that choked me up the most had to be when a ten-year old hung herself becuase of bullying issues at school. Ten years old and she killed herself... That's still being in elementary school...



I've been bullied all throughout my life. Most of the time is because I was the outcaster, I joined the school band, I wore glasses, I had medical issues, I was too skinny, I was in a wheelchair, I was an artist, I wore clothes, I had long hair, I had braces, I went to this school, I played on that team, I was not that strong, I was ugly, because I liked this person, because I knew my music well, because I helped others, because I'm dating someone, because I'm having sex, because I do things differently...



Some picked on me with a reason, other times there weren't any. Some thought it was funny, some found pleasure out of it, others thought I would never accomplish anything, some thought I was just so stupid. Some did it to please others, some did it to please themselves...



I never really understood why people picked on me. I've been picked on since the first grade. How I remember was when I started playing softball. Because I was the only person on my team that was a from a different school, some of the players found that as a way to pick on me. Because I wore glasses and had messed up teeth, some found that as a way to pick on me too. Because I was one of the smallest, not that strong of a hitter, some found that as a way to pick on me.



As the years went by, braces being apart of me, growing up into a woman at age of ten, and starting to like things that boys tend to like more than girls, some found that as a way to pick on me.



Entering a new phase by going into the seventh grade, I found more interest of band, music, shopping at Hot Topic, and thinking Punk/Goth was kind of a neat trend. Because some thought that anyone who constantly wore black, listened to Rob Zombie, and are in the band, they're automatically Goth, I had to quickly phase out of that because I didn't want to be bullied. I really had to change my lifestyle in order to be fine and not get made fun of? Because I march to my own drum, I had to be picked on?



High school, still got picked on. Some thought I was foolish because I dated this guy, was still getting made fun of because I was in the band. I was getting mocked and ridiculed because I knew my music too well than the others. "Kazin's little prodigy," I was called... Sorry that I did my work like I was told to do and you guys just never found the free time to practice. Sorry I like to achieve in life. Most of the other times, people just like to spread nasty rumors, thinking it's perfectly fine to just let one girl have her life be ruined. This all started when my medical condition started to act up. There were horrible rumors being spread around that I was faking this all and just trying to gain the attention.



I'm sorry, but I'm the kind of girl who likes to keep a low-key life. I don't intend on impressing people with drama. I impress people with my artwork, that's it. I would NEVER fake something this horrible. Otherwise, all those hospital trips, medical tests, pill popping, chiropractor visits would mean something to me.



To this day, I'm still being harassed. Had knives wielded in my face, had people told me that they would break me if they had the chance, thought that I'm a whore because I'm having sex with the only person I've ever had sex with, because I like to push my limits when it comes to challenges, because I want to succeed in life, I have to deal with horrible, unreasonable shit that people intend on throwing in my face.



It brings a tear to my eye to constantly hear people taking their lives away when it comes to excessive bullying. I have friends who have had much worse than I did when it came to what they experienced with their bullies. I may never understand the reason why bullying exists. If you can, please tell me because, you know, one day I would like a chance to actually end it.



Turning 21 made me look into the past a bit and remembering all the crap that I've dealt with:



Good friends that just stops talking to you without a cause

Best friends that blames everyone but themselves for unexplainable reasons

Good friends blaming that college changed you

Buddies saying that you should have never left to go to school and working on being successful in life

People claiming that your medical issue is the cause of them ignoring you



Friends claiming that you're just different from them...



This hurt me in a way where I felt bullied, ridiculed and humiliated. First day of being twenty one, I would like to finally forget all these things that has happened in my life the past three years and moved on. The bullying is fairly low, it's manageable to ignore it, and cyber bullying just makes me laugh my ass off.



I finish this note off by stating that I'm finally looking on to doing something great in my life. I want to work for a company in Chicago with animation, hopefully live the rest of my life with the guy I'm with, pay the bills, pop out kids at a later age and shake hands with Mickey Mouse in Disney World.



I won't tolerate bullying anymore... How can we change this to where more people save their own lives and continue on living being different?

SMH! I detest bullies! Seriously, what is the point of picking on other kids for? So you can feel good for yourself?! Hahaha GROW UP! They're indirectly taking there lives...some people on here *tsk tsk*