sad boyPreston Deener, 15, decided to take a stand against his bullies at school -- and he was suspended for it. This week a local TV station went to his school to interview him and while  the news crew was setting up, 3 bullies attacked him in front of the reporter, Katie Kyros, and crew. Despite Kyros’ pleas for them to leave the boy alone, the bullies continued.

What the fuck is going on in the world?

We punish victims for sticking up for themselves and the bullies are so bold that they attack in broad daylight in front of news crews. Are we raising a generation of bullies who they think they are above reproach? Are they really so brazen to attack in plain sight with no repercussions?

It's no wonder we have incidents like Columbine, and our children are committing suicide to escape their bullies. They feel there is nowhere to turn for help. The only way to escape the wrath of these little monsters is to kill themselves. We leave good kids with nowhere to turn for help until they have hit their limit and go over the edge.

We should be ashamed as parents, teachers, and authority figures that we are letting the mean kids get away with this. We can talk about anti-bullying until we are blue in the face but until we bring the hammer down on these cretins, we are putting all of our children in harm's way. If the bullies don’t prey on our children directly, maybe our children will be caught in the crossfire of a victim who has lost his last shred of hope and decides to take out as many mean people as he can -- or maybe our child will be emotionally devastated by the loss of a friend who just couldn't take the taunting and abuse any longer. Any way you figure it, bullies affect us all. The ripples of their action will be felt for years to come.

What do you think we should do to effectively stop bullying?


Image via John Steven Fernandez/ Flickr