I disagree, Sucide is the last exerscise in control a severely, emotionally wrecked and destitute person has. Most people who commit suicide don't show outwardly that they are having issues. Stuff might ooze out from time to time like lava from a volcano, but for the most part, people with a serious desire to end it all don't advertise they plan to do it. People who threaten to do it are usually seeking attention or confirmation of their viewpoint. It hurts, it is shameful, knowing that you can't fix what is wrong with you, that you are letting everyone down, that you have exceeded your ability to cope with, what is many times, a situation past any sort of resolution.
So you take the one avenue left to you, to end it all. Because there is pain and torment that makes life a miserable existence. I have been there, and I am here today because a man who was infatuated with me called to talk. If he hadn't, my roomate would not have gone looking and found me.
If anyone feels this way now, please, please, talk to someone, a professional, a teacher, a doctor, a friend, or an advlt that you trust.



As for the bullying, there are people who get their jollies tormenting others, it makes them feel powerful, and most likely, they have very little power in their own lives. Understanding the reasons why people bully, and how to effectively deal with it helps to stop the vicious cycle.
Life is not fair. Sometimes [censored] is going to come your way that you don't deserve. You are going to get persecuted sometimes, and to stand up to it may land you in hot water, but the self respect you have for yourself in the end makes it worth it.

Every bully's ass my son kicked, every detention and suspension he got, it solved the problem. He was willing to put his comfort, and his reputation on the line, to stand up for himself. We backed him up, and we understood the school's position. I also made sure the bully's parents understood my position. If it happens again, we have a record of my son defending himself. We have a record of your son's aggression. Next time I won't involve the school. Next time it will be the cops. Build a reputation.
Neither of my kids gets bullied, nipped that [censored] in the bud in grade school.

I don't think bullying is acceptable at all. I've had the chance to do it and I didn't do it, because it is wrong. People who prey on the weak and project their insecurities on others are losers, I lose all respect for them.

well you're a good person, do you look down on everyone who can't do things as good as you???

What a cheerful thread.

I just got into a fight with people who tried to bully me. Works every time.

There are those..who have no one left that cares...

My mom and my job is the only thing keeping me going...

Refer to the first line. Never ever dismiss someone who thinks about going through with it. It's NEVER because they want to take "the easy way out". Infact it is that attitude alone that pushes so many over the edge and go through with it. It's like a stark confirmation that there is nothing left for them.

Not everyone has strong wills.
Not everyone has "reliable"(lol) circle of friends that give their lives meaning.

My way of dealing with bullying (after I did that, it never happened again) was quite simple. I made friends within a influential group of girls. If you mess with me, expect to hear a lot of girls screaming at you.

Unfortunately this is becoming common place and more and more i'm starting to think it's not just the bullies fault. Kids are really not putting faith in themselves and in-turn are allowing themselves to be dragged down. Was bullied in Middle School as well as High School being called the usual names. It's not easy as they try to wear you down though in the end you deal with it.

Seems like today's strategy is punish the bully and let the kid think it's ok to have depression wearing them down.

Sorry to hear about a senior committing suicide at a local school. Had a former friend that committed suicide by jumping off of a bridge into the water.

Are you kidding me? It's "natural" and "just a part of growing up"? There's a lot of crap that use to be considered "natural" and we realize we are better then that. Bullying is never ok.

And let me make this very clear - it's NEVER the victims fault. That's like saying someone gets cancer because they deserved it. How ignorant is that statement?

It's really easy for those of you who had mild experiences with "bullying" (or none at all) to stick your nose up to others and say "Well, guess you deserved it. You didn't do [insert any number of things]". I went to the teachers, my parents, the freaking police, and NO ONE could do aything for me. At that time, there were no laws for victims and what laws there were actually tied the hands of everyone involved. So, the bullying continued and you're telling me that because I couldn't take on 3 or more people in a fight without being beaten to a bloody pulp that it's MY fault it happened? I'm a girl who was bullied by guys who were WAY stronger then me, and I used every avenue I could to make them stop. I had no option of physically fighting back and all other options let me down. You can't blame someone for not going the same route you may have because they don't always have the same options. No one ever deserves to be treated like they're less of a human being just because someone has a hair up their butt.

There are seriously varying degrees to bullying and before you think you know all the answers on how to fix it, maybe you should consider that you didn't face something too serious and someone else might be in the middle of absolute hell where their physical and emotional well being is in real danger.

People who use violence in any form towards someone else in school should have a two strike policy. You get caught for bullying, strike one with 10 day suspension. You come back still being a [censored], strike two and you're no longer allowed in public school - period. Send all those jerks to a school together and let the normal people, who know how to act like human beings, get their education in peace.

No I don't look down, I lose respect for them. Who said not bullying is a good thing? It should be the norm.

I won't pretend to know what it feels like to go through something like that, because I don't. Why give up on the world because it seems so wrong, happiness is there even though it's not always easy to obtain.

There are those who do have people who care, even if they don't know or believe it. And while they put themselves at peace, the ones left behind suffer even more.

I can tell you from first-hand experience that it is the wrong choice to make.

Although I'm unequivocally against suicide, I think that the suggestion that those left behind suffer more is to fail to understand what they were going through.

For those suffering from such horrible depression, there is absolutely no happiness to be found, even in things that they once loved. If you haven't been that deep into a hole, there's just no way to understand just how skewed your thought processes can be. It's not just difficult to find happiness, but absolutely impossible.

Wouldn't doubt so. it's not a generational problem, not something instantly caused by high school cliches. This sort of thing to our immediate knowledge has gone on for hundreds if not thousands of years. Different peoples actions, natures.

But technology in many ways has added another dimension I'd say.

So yes there probably are ways we could go about it. For one teachers and parents curbing it as soon as they see it. And by curbing not just something like a small scolding and phone call to a parent that's too busy/worn-out from being at work from day to night/doesn't care.(If we're talking about true bullying and not just digging at someone. This happens to everyone.)


Local high school around here seems to see a teen suicide about once every 1-2 years. However it's a high income area so it usually bleeds to less bullying more love, money, etc. around here.

What I'm about to say is kind of fantasy and never would happen, but I think schools need a Batman type person someone who beats up on the bullies that way the bullies become afraid of getting the [censored] beat out of them. That is what needs to happen since teachers and principals seem to do little and getting detention or suspended for some time does nothing either to stop bullies.

I personally don't understand why one would end their life over being bullied, but I wasn't bullied that much throughout my life, so perhaps I don't understand it well. There was a guy my junior year of high school that really wanted to kick my ass, but nothing ever came of it. He was a beast, though, and would have if he made an attempt. But then, I'd just have gotten my ass kicked, and woke up fine the next day.

There are much worse things than bullies in the world, and much greater hardships. It's sad that some people can't make it out of high school to start seeing the world on their own.

That doesn't always work, that might work on some people but if a person is REALLY OUT TO GET YOU, sometimes you just have to put the teachings of "The Good Book" a side and do what must be done to defend yourself---then prey for forgiveness later.

Sorry for quoting the whole post, but I'd just want to say that I 100% agree with it. Yes, it's surprising the number of persons who think that teachers will be able to help if you go to them. Well, they don't, or at least they didn't in my experience. I went to a private catholic school and they didn't want to acknowledge that there was any bullying going on because they were afraid parents would put their children in the public school instead. This means it was completely useless to report anything, they just ignored us.

It is human nature to get angry, have disagreements, dislike someone and so on yes, but if teachers had more authority these days it would not be so bad. hitting children with a cane was a bit much but now there is not enough discipline.
Also once you become an advlt it should be completely different, you should know better. Bullying in the workplace is pathetic and if anyone ever tried it with me I would smash their teeth out and make them cry. I would also back up any innocents I see too, cost me my job i dont care. Petty squabbles are just laughable though and fine. But there is a line that should NEVER be crossed.

That's one of the more insidious and unfortunate effects of severe depression. As much as it's about the presence of unhappiness, it's just as much about the absence of happiness. You might compare it to extreme adrenaline; during a life-or-death situation there are plenty of stories of how people's adrenaline has gone on overload, and blocked out the sensation of pain for a while. There are chemical reactions involved in feeling happiness, too, and it's possible for those to be blocked too. one of the key symptoms of depression is that things that normally made someone happy, no longer do. The medical component of antidepressants typically revolves around trying to reactivate these chemical pathways. When it gets really bad the person is virtually incapable of enjoyment. It's not just that the bad things are outweighing the good, it's that there IS no good, because they literally cannot mentally process it. When people talk like they're "not trying hard enough" to overcome sadness, they're basically telling someone colorblind that they're just not looking hard enough. All it produces is looking at them like they're crazy, if not outright insulting them.
Keep in mind that a lot of these people are teenagers, a time when hormones and emotions go crazy. People fly into a violent rage over a single word. The end of a week-long relationship is an unrivaled tragedy, the end of the truest love there ever was. Kids shriek at their parents and knock things over in their room because they were asked to wash the dishes. While it's easy to look back at these things and just shake our heads at how silly they were, our ability to process emotions is pretty tied up in those hormones. Go back even further and you have small children going into an inconsolable screaming fit because their 25-cent balloon floated away. Obviously, the vast majority of bullying victims don't kill themselves. But when you take a time when people are already struggling with their emotions and their place in the world, add some particularly aggressive bullying, and apply it to the small percentage of the population already prone to severe depression, you're left with too much to handle burying the people least able to handle it.

Well I suppose I should consider myself lucky that nothing like this has happened to me. The potential bully should consider himself even more lucky though.

Bullying is a natural part of human tendency. That does not mean it's right or good. Everybody thinks it's becoming commonplace schools and other social activities. It's pure bull, it's as bad as it ever was. Really society Is more sensitive to bullying and the media is certainly more active in reporting it. Throughout history it only changes form. One of the more recent evolutions cyber bullying. That is something that can be prevented if children are made aware that they have a choice to say no. As to suicide, well bullying is only one dimension to anyone who goes so far to take their own life. If these same people had good homes with support from their families, suicide would've not been an option. Their families should be a place where they could openly share their thoughts and concerns. Parents should take the time to listen and make themselves available not because of duty but out of love. Now and days many are concerned with making a living before raising their children. Some, it seems, expects the public school system to raise their children... more or less personal opinion there. Parenting is on the only dimension but it is a big one. Suicide only happens when there's a loss of total hope. Bullying can contribute but it's most certainly not the big picture.

You haven't experienced bullying then. Unless being a human ashtray sounds like something "mostly harmless" to you.

so by your very own logic...

Yeah, them uppity blacks invited being lynched. Tell it like it is, brother!

Frodo67 Is right in the sense that the reaction does give a bully power. As to bullying being a harmless or mostly harmless. It depends on the personality and the amount of social support like friends family and so on. it's definitely not harmless, but there are personalities that are more susceptible or resilient to it.

I'll tell you what's selfish:

Selfish is expecting someone who has no reason to live to continue living so you can be comfortable. So you don't have to confront death. So you can maintain the delusion that all is fine and dandy in the world, and so you aren't forced to see the world's ills.

I can't think of anything MORE selfish than expecting someone to live through hell just so you can be comfortable.

Cowardice is ignoring death, in the hopes one can evade it. Cowardice is the self censorship of the mind when is wonders into territory that frightens you.

WHAT if there is nobody that cares? You can trust me on this, nobody gives a [censored] about you, other than your parents. Not in the long run. Supposing you committed suicide, I'd give it 5 months before people that weren't family totally forgot about you unless overtly reminded.

WHY do you think it's easy? Death is the great unknown, and in religion suicide can be punished with hellfire- suicide is brave in a way, because death is completely unknown.

Who the [censored] are you to condemn?
People like you disgust me to the core of my very being.