Another kid kills himself. This time a college student “outed” by his roommate on YouTube. Check the link below to get a quick update from Ellen DeGeneres and you will get the names of a few more, driven to suicide by bullying.
I was bullied as a child. From about 7 to 14 I got pushed around, used as a punching bag, suffered verbal abuse because I was overweight and always chosen last for everything. Not fun. But I didn’t even consider killing myself. Not then anyway. I don’t know why I could take it and others could not. I didn’t like it and was unable to fight back. No help from my brother or parents or friends for that matter. But, at about age 14, I topped six feet tall and got an attitude. Not a bully, just not quite such an easy target.
I suspect that weak and different children and adults have always been marginalized and bullied, and I suspect that is a part of human behavior that won’t change much. So why the uptick in suicide? Maybe the rate hasn’t changed, but the media has. Maybe not. We had a suicide in my school, 9th or 10 grade. The guy was quiet, a good student, maybe gay, maybe just a loner. He was a good looking boy, shy, no friends, boy or girl. Maybe somebody bullied him, but if so I never saw it. Maybe his home life was abusive. I just don’t know. One day he went home from school and hung himself in his room. Gone in a flash. No press. No nothing.
If there are more suicides from bullying, could it be that the world as a whole is getting so contentious, so many negative campaigns, so much carping about everything, that the bullying is just the last straw, or the future looks so bleak that there isn’t anything to look forward to anyway? When I was being “done”, we were getting under our desks to try to survive the A-bomb attack we were sure would happen any day. Other than that, though, the future seemed bright (except for getting the crap kicked out of me from time to time).
Don’t get me wrong: bullying anybody for any reason is a foul and stupid thing to do. I don’t support it and I do support efforts to find and “correct” the bullies. But I do think there is a sub-set of people that ARE foul and stupid, and these will always be with us. What we need to do is get out of this miasma of negativity and give our youngsters (there, I’ve said it. God, it doesn’t feel good to say “youngsters” knowing full well I ain’t one any more) some hope for a future.
Question: Is there a future worth living for? I think so, but boy sometimes it is hard to see it.
Image:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/galleries/2007/1969240/full/hanging_man.jpgEllen on bullying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85QQTXAtnY
Crap. Another viral email. Oh well, better open it since emails from my friend are usually interesting. YouTube link. Copy. Paste. Stunned.
Posts
