Bully-induced Suicide

[dmg1969]

My brother and I were bullied in middle school. I don't recall things ever getting physical...it was more verbal bullying. We and our friends had the spiked hair thing going and one kid in particular would always call us "Kajagoogoo (80's bad that did Too Shy Shy, etc... http://www.kajagoogoo.com/) and make other snide remarks.

I remember going to the guidance counselor which probably made it worse. Eventually things calmed down. After graduating high school, we were at the local pool and we ran into the main kid who used to bully us. I swear he had not grown an inch but we both did. He came over and said something like "Hey ******s (our last name), what's up"? We both told him to fuck off before we kicked his ass. That felt good.

Bullying in today's age is different than back then (mid to late 80's). Kids today don't just bully, they attempt to either beat the crap out of you or mentally destroy you. Some kids can handle that and fight back while others can't. Parents (I do not have kids) need to be aware of changes in their kids and hope the kids open up to them. Sometimes, telling the parent who will then talk to the other kids' parents or the school just makes things harder on the bullied kid. So, the bullied kid may not say anything and just let things build until he/she does something irrational either to themselves or to the bullier(s). Sometimes that irrational thing, sadly, is suicide. They don't view suicide as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. They just want it to stop and that is the way they find.

If that happens and there is proof that the bullying led the kid to kill himself/herself, the bullier should be held legally accountable. You can't claim first degree murder, but they should be charged with something along the lines of involuntary manslaughter. My brother and I (identical twins by the way) were able to get through it because we stuck together. I imagine that a lot of bullied kids don't have that kind of support.