Doing a little research into what was being discussed in http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=179630 , I ran across this website, started by a mother of a bullycide victim. Read the stories if you're interested. It's very sad and scary to think that this is what the world is coming to...kids being picked on so bad that they see this as the only way out. I hope none of you ever do anything like this...and I hope everyone realizes the implications of bullying others.

http://www.jaredstory.com/bully.html

yeah, i've seen that site before. i was in that place for a while a few years ago...it is initially what drove me to being a suicidal maniac most of my freshman year, although many other factors followed. you can blame the victim for pulling the trigger or swallowing the pills but you can't blame them for desperately wanting to. i didn't see it as 'letting them win' because i knew that they (well one person really, a few friends went along at times) didn't actually hate me and would feel outrageously guilty knowing they caused me to do that, which was my intention. they apparently later learned through others though that i was suicidal for one reason or another and yeah it definitely stopped, they only time they'd talk to me was to say something like "sarah can you hand me my purse? thanks! you're the best!" kind of weak of them that they couldn't apologize straightforward, whatever though.<end sarah's pity story #932>

Wow, that was one of the saddest things Iv'e read in a long long time. Thanks for posting it. I think every teacher and bully out there, should be obligated to read this, in order to get an idea of what the results of bullying can really be. Those poor kids. :(

I just wish I could comfort everyone of them and let them know that it's not always gonna be that way. :( Too bad it's too late for the majority of them.

That's very sad. I really think that there needs to be some serious anti-bullying laws, with serious penalties.

I agree. Bullying can be very traumatic to a child. I still have vivid memories of things that kids said and did to me 20 years ago.

You know, in grade school, I was bullied quite a bit by several folks. But one day, I had all I could take, and I fought back against one of them. Not only that, I won.

I was never bullied again. And in fact, today, I'm actually friends with the majority of them.

Not a situation that can work for everyone, but it worked for me, and my life turned out pretty well because of it.

Tragic what happened to these kids though. None of these deaths should have had to happened.

http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.com/index.html

I discovered that Ryan was friends with a kid we never met in person, nor knew he was friends with that seemed to be very dark. The two of them questioned the worthiness of life. This young man fed into Ryan’s suicidal ideation his own macabre thoughts and encouragement. There was a short exchange between the two of them just two weeks prior to Ryan’s suicide - “Tonight’s the night, I think I’m going to do it. You’ll read about it in the paper tomorrow." And the other kid replied, “It’s about ****ing time!”

You know, in grade school, I was bullied quite a bit by several folks. But one day, I had all I could take, and I fought back against one of them. Not only that, I won.

I was never bullied again. And in fact, today, I'm actually friends with the majority of them.

Not a situation that can work for everyone, but it worked for me, and my life turned out pretty well because of it.

I only got in two physical fights. I didn't start either, and I won both.

The physical bullying - and there was quite a bit of it that I tolerated without doing anything about - wasn't really what was the most scarring; it was the name-calling. I was fat, smart, wore glasses and my family was poor (not a good combination when you're a kid), so I might as well have had a target painted on my chest.

What's worse was that when I was growing up, the teachers really didn't seem to give a crap about it. Nobody was held accountable for their actions. I hope that's changed since Columbine and other such deadly incidents.

I do credit the bullying, however, for helping me to develop a sense of humor. It was self-depricating at first (a defense mechanism against the bullying), and as the years progressed, it kind of helped stave off the jerks.

Regarding this subject, I HIGHLY recommend this book:

Please Stop Laughing At Me: One Woman's Inspirational Story (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EHTAZU/sr=8-1/qid=1154888853/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0330426-2072072?ie=UTF8), by Jodee Blanco (published in 2003). This book deals with the subject of bullying and is nonfiction - meaning the book is about what the author (Blanco) went through when she was growing up in Illinois. She had suicidal thoughts too, and nobody understood what she had to deal with in school. Her own parents didn't even believe her. :mad:

Today, she is very successful and divides her time teaching at New York University in Manhattan, as well as University of Chicago in Chicago.