It's 2012. We are slam bang in the middle of a bullying epidemic. And still I see parents (yes, even parents right here on The Stir) acting like it's all some big myth being perpetrated by a bunch of wussies who won't put on their big girl pants. Attention, non-believers, I'd like to introduce you to the sad story of 15-year-old Amanda Todd.
Five weeks ago, Amanda posted a video on YouTube detailing the excruciating lengths bullies have gone to to make her life a living hell. But Amanda seemed to be one of those strong girls who wasn't going to take it. Because she also posted a slideshow of ways to combat these vile creatures who torture other kids. She had, as they say, her big girl pants on.
And then came Wednesday. Amanda was found in her house, dead. She'd committed suicide.
The big girl pants didn't work.
The big girl pants never work.
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Instead kids put on a brave face to world, they "buck up" just as instructed. And on the inside, they crumble.
Some 160,000 will hide at home, skipping days at school because they're afraid. Countless more will turn to an eating disorder. I know I did. I threw up daily in the quest to find a more perfect me who would finally be accepted.
And then, sadly, worst of all, there will walk the path that Amanda Todd chose. Bullying victims are as much as nine times more likely than their peers to consider suicide.
Yes, even kids who "get it," kids like Amanda who know that bullies are cruel not because there's something wrong with their victims but because, well, bullies are cruel. Amanda's heartbreaking YouTube video detailing the trauma that caused her to change schools seemed to have been weighed out by that moving slideshow on how to fight cyberbullying. It seemed like she was a kid who had the power to move past all of this.
And yet, now, her parents are mourning the loss of their 15-year-old daughter.
It isn't their faults. But it is a wake-up call to the parents out there who would take bullying lightly, who would tell their kids "that which does not kill us makes us stronger," who figure their kids will be fine when they grow up.
They won't be fine if they're dead.
Please! Get your kids help if they're being bullied. Don't just wait for it to go away!
Check out Amanda's YouTube video and tell us: does her sad story change the way you look at bullying?
Image via TheSomebodyToKnow/YouTube
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Comments 24
What a sad story. It so hard to believe how cruel the world has become. I can't imagine how this poor girls parents are feeling. The sad thing is the kids following her were probably laughing about her death.
My heart is aching for this family, for what Amanda went through and for what they will live with without their daughter.
I think more importanly it should be a wake-up call to the parents of the BULLIES. Parents need to start facing facts and see that certain actions and words spoken are, in fact, showing that your child IS the bully. My nephew is a bully and my SIL just won't see it. "He's a boy" or "He's only 8" or "All kids say stuff like that" is all because she can't admit that what he's doing isn't right. No parent wants to admit that because they feel it's a reflection on them. They don't get that it's worse when they don't DO anything about it! Stop it at that age before it GETS to the junior high/high school years. Deal with your children and their behavior now because it will just escalate into something potentially catastrophic (like this story) when they get older. Teach them to have self-worth so they don't feel the need to make others feel bad about themselves. Wake the fuck up.
Ugh. My heart aches for her family. This story is absolutely ridiculous. It sounds like she tried over and over to start new, moving to different cities and new schools, and these kids FOLLOWED her. Although, with social media, this really isn't hard to do. Moral of the story, MONITOR WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE DOING ONLINE. Not only was it disgusting (obviously a mistake, but disgusting nonetheless) that this girl would flash someone on the internet at 14 years old, but even MORE disgusting that the parents of these bullies weren't seeing or stopping what their children were saying. I know you can't monitor everything and that there is some degree of privacy that teens need, but with something of this magnitude the parents should have been involved on both sides, not just hers.
I really can't express how much I despise those pathetic excuses for mothers who try to blame the victims and tell them to suck it up.
They will never understand.
Even other bully victims who were able to find a way to stop the bullying or were strong. They blame the victims too. It's not that simple for everyone. The confidence is gone. They get to a point they really don't feel they can do anything or defend themselves.
And the slut shaming. Parents know how harmful it has been, but still slut shame. They're disgusting. All of them.