Cyberbullying…a term that has been tossed around the media in the last decade, and frankly not enough attention has been paid to this issue. Perhaps you can’t truly appreciate an issue like this until you’ve experienced it in your own home. Maybe there are issues which seem so abstract and otherworldly, that you cannot phantom how horrific the effects are until it results in a premature death of a teen or preteen too scared, too broken, too ashamed to reach out for help.
As a child of the 80’s, I grew up in a time where everyone knew who the bullies were. You knew who ruled the school bus or the school playground, and you avoided them, if you could. Bullying was a local problem and sometimes resulted in confrontation. I can vividly remember scoring detention for beating the snot out of my own childhood bully in 6th grade. I had taken his torment for long enough, had met my breaking point, and I finally stood up to him. He never bullied another kid after that. I can also remember times when, as an adolescent, my own conduct or actions could be interpreted as bullying: things I said to insult others, lack of support for those under attack, or making comments about more insecure kids around “the cool” kids to score points and protect my own insecurities.
As I progressed as a teenager, and shamefully because I had gained popularity in high school, I took great lengths to show empathy and compassion to people who were otherwise on the extremes of school. I remember at graduation that one girl came up to me and thanked me for being one of the few people who were nice to her in high school. That moment broke my heart, but it made me more dedicate than ever to standing up for those who feel they have no voice.
Follow me below the fold and I’ll share my own family’s current struggle with cyberbullying.
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