This site is dedicated to all people that are (or have been) bullied and abused and is still growing and a WORK IN PROGRESS. We are working hard to improve and strengthen this website and ask you provide feedback on how to make it better. What else would you like to see? Contact us to let us know what you think.
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and it is not your fault.
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"Bullying is a crime in which the perpetrators are rarely punished and the victims rarely receive justice. This crime is usually repetitive and a victim is injured and traumatized over and over again. When bullying claims yet another victim, few notice and even fewer care...Oftentimes, the victims themselves are blamed by being told that they must be doing something to 'deserve' it. These victims are isolated and usually suffer in silence. The media doesn't broadcast the injurues or deaths of these silenced victims. Our nation doesn't share in their pain or extend sympathies to their survivors. Communities aren't outraged by these senseless and equally devastating crimes...In the adult world, we have laws against bullying. We do not tolerate these crimes in our workplace. Yet, our children are told they must tolerate this in the workplace - our schools. Society, in general, has the mindset that it is 'all right' or 'a rite of passage' for bullies to deliberately and sytematically destroy their victims -- our children...When we don't acknowledge bullying as a real crime, we dismiss the very real injurues inflicted upon the victims. Although the psychological injuries and extent can be varied, they are real injuries. Sometimes, the symptoms are internalized and sometimes they are externalized. (sometimes both) In either case, bullying kills and children die."
by Cathy Swartwood Mitchell in loving memory of Brandon Chris Swartwood - 2/21/82 - 12/16/00. Excerpt taken from, "Bullycide in America" written and compiled by Brenda High.
Tyler Clementi
"Tyler Clementi, student outed as gay on internet, jumps to his death"
By Ed Pilkington, Guardian.co.uk
Gay student Tyler Clementi whose roommate allegedly streamed video of him having sex with a man killed himself the next day. His last words, posted on Facebook about 10 minutes before he died, were brief and to the point: "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."
“After reading the story below about my daughter, Megan Taylor Meier, you can come away from it shocked, saddened, mad or knowing how Megan must have felt because you have gone through something similar. My hope is that through Megan's story that people just like you become inspired to spread the much needed awareness and education about how bullying and cyberbullying can devastate another person. If you are someone who is going through a rough time in your life or have in the past, I want you to know that there is help out there. Please don't make a permanent decision for a temporary problem . . . reach out for help!
I wish the best for all of you . . . . . Please go out and make a difference in someone’s life” Tina Meier (November 22, 2010)
Megan Meier's Story
His name was Josh Evans. He was 16 years old. And he was hot.
"Mom! Mom! Mom! Look at him!" Tina Meier recalls her daughter saying.
Josh had contacted Megan Meier through her MySpace page and wanted to be added as a friend. Yes, he's cute, Tina Meier told her daughter. "Do you know who he is?"
"No, but look at him! He's hot! Please, please, can I add him?"
Mom said yes. And for six weeks Megan and Josh - under Tina's watchful eye - became acquainted in the virtual world of MySpace.
This site is dedicated to the memory of our son Ryan and for all young people suffering in silence from the pain of bullying and having thoughts of suicide. We hope students become less ashamed to ask for help when feeling suicidal. We hope adults gain knowledge from our tragedy. As a society, we need to find better ways to help our children through their most difficult growing years.
If We Only Knew, If He Only Told Us
….It was during the fifth grade that we first began to encounter the bullying problem. A certain kid and his friends picked up on Ryan’s academic weaknesses and his poor physical coordination. But since he was not being physically bullied by these boys, only by words, we advised him to just ignore them, walk away and remember that he had good friends to count on. We even went so far as to get him a therapist to further help him develop coping skills and to boost his self-esteem during this school year. By the end of fifth grade he seemed fine and so, based on the therapist’s advice, we stopped the sessions…..
…..Nothing can ever bring back our Ryan. Nothing will ever heal our broken hearts. But we hope by sharing the personal details of our tremendous loss, another family will have been spared a lifelong sentence to this kind of pain.
"If everyone believed they had a voice, imagine how loud that noise would be!"
If you can imagine a world without hate or fear, then you have an idea of the world my son dreamed of. It wasn't that he was silly or naive or even unrealistic. On the contrary, he was exceptionally bright and well-informed. He just believed in even one person had the power to change the world, if he worked at it hard enough. Why wouldn't he? As far back as he could remember, people had been saying "That little boy is going to change the world!" This site is dedicated to Jeffrey.
For three years, he was the target of a relentless bully, both in school and online. Throughout it all, Jeff never retaliated with words or actions, and never gave up trying to make peace. In the end, it was the loss of faith in himself that led him to give in to despair. In a final note to those he left behind, he wrote "Dreams are only dreams, and the world cannot change no matter how hard you try..."
Over the next three years hundreds of students, parents, and teachers worked diligently to ensure that Jeff's dream of a better world did not die too. In June 2008, The Jeffrey Johnston "Stand Up for All Students" Act was signed into law, setting the standard as the best bullying legislation in the nation. I would never have imagined that a world filled with so much tragedy would take notice of the suffering of just one child, but then I would never have imagined that one person had the power to change the world. Maybe I was wrong about that too.
Fighting The System - Jared’s Story - "The scars never go away"
“It’s your child. You must fight for him or her. No one cares like a parent cares ...a parent is motivated by love.” Jared's mom, Brenda High
"Brutus" commenced to brutally assault Jared by picking him up and throwing him on the floor and pushing him against the walls...Several times Jared yelled for help calling, "Teacher, Teacher!" But no one was there to help.
Looking back – Looking forward (10 Steps to Stop Bullying)
“Put yourself into the shoes of a victim of bullying. Every day a child is bullied is an eternity to them. We worry about terrorists coming into our country and doing us harm. A victim of bullying walks into their school each day knowing their terrorist could strike any moment and destroy their wounded spirit again, and again. How long can a child play on the freeway dodging cars before the experience finally becomes too much and they go over the edge?” Brenda High
Kelsey Shelton Briggs
[Click on picture above to watch video]
Kelsey Briggs lost her life before the age of three due to Child Abuse.Please watch/read her story and share it with others. It is a Tragic story but one that must be shared. Hopefully Kelsey's story will touch your heart and you will be willing to step up to the plate and help children who can't help themselves.
If you know of a child being abused, call Law enforcement and Social Services immediately. You might just save a child's life.
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