This has got to stop. People are disgusting. A fourteen year old girl - a child - committed suicide because of bullying. The fact that this still happens devastates me to tears.

I was bullied in middle school. I was told to “just drop dead” and several other things. I was told that I was a poser, ugly, and that my friends were gross. Once, I walked down the middle aisle of the cafeteria to throw out my trash, and a table of kids just participated in a chorus of “Ew!”s. I remember having to storm to the bathroom afterwards because I had to burst into tears. I had people who I thought were my friends - people who thought I could count on - turned away from me. I wasn’t even safe within the confines of my own home. I had countless chat transcripts of cyberbullying. I even had a kid I used to like (and then hated me) ask me to be his date to a dance as a joke. I became depressed and I started to take the pain out on myself. I just fell into this hole - this abyss - and I didn’t know how to get out. Sometimes, I wanted to opt out of everything, life included. 

I feel like so many people send out the message to end bullying and cyberbullying. But has anything really changed? People focus so much on the victims. What about the bullies? What about the people who say all those hurtful things? What about them? In my opinion, the public should be focusing on the wrongs of the perpetrators. What happens after something this tragic occurs? The bullies cry a little and say how sorry they are. In my experience, people rebound back into being bullies. Nothing is ever done.

This is not okay. Ever. Do not ever dismiss bullying as “kids being kids.” Do not ever say that a kid deserved it. No one deserves to be told go to kill themselves. 

If anyone is bullying you or you know someone being bullied, please speak up. It could mean a life.