Bullying: Why is nothing being done to stop it?

On the news tonight I read an article of a young teenaged girl who was found hanged in her home. She had been bullied by people in her school for weeks and after a very explicit text (according to a parent) had circulated around her school, she chose to end her life and be done with it. Her note to her parents read "I'm fine = I wish I could tell you how I feel". There are articles in the past year that seem to be multiplying of children taking their own lives after being bullied, and so many questions arise. One in particular would be "Why are the parents not seeing their child's behavior changes and doing something?" or another could be "Why isn't the school taking more steps into preventing this?"

In 2002, this writer was bullied. I was pushed down the stairs by someone grasping at my backpack and pulling back, causing me to fall forward when they pushed. I also would spend many days with people spreading rumors about me, calling me names from "fat" to "slut", and there were many times due to all this I wanted to leave school. I begged my parent to let me be home schooled but instead, she chose to go to the school and speak with the counselor. Nothing happened though, the school did not do anything and I finished high school and received my diploma. At the age of 27, I at times will be sitting doing something, or watching something, and a memory of one of those moments will flutter into my brain. Ten years after graduating, I still feel those moments in my gut where I felt lost, alone, confused. Where I'd fake sick just to go to the nurse and stay there hiding away from others. Where I'd pretend to be sick so I could stay home from school. The reason why I did not fall when I could have? My parent watched me and spoke to me every day.

My parent noticed something about me, she noticed that I was becoming more quiet, more withdrawn. I wouldn't say much before and after school, I spent more time on the computer or watching TV and didn't even argue when I was told it was time for bed. I'd always be one of the first ones out of school, last one in school. I began just asking if I could stay home from school and not even giving an excuse. Soon, she asked me what was going on and I wouldn't tell her, until finally she got it out of me. It was her constant push and pressure that got me to confide in her. So why are parents now not pushing or pressuring their children to talk? Why are parents giving their children so much independence and time alone that when the children commit suicide, the parents say "We didn't know" or notes are left saying "I wish I could have told you". This is not right, and this is rather sad when a child feels they can't go to their parent for support.

The schools should be stepping up and handling this. They should have hall monitors, whether it be fellow students or teachers between class periods listening in on conversations. If there is a complaint made, they should be looking for the students causing the problems and attempting to catch them in the act of bullying so it can be ended. At lunch periods they should have people in the cafeteria or walking the campuses looking. Turning a blind eye is causing deaths, and the schools are responsible for these children during the day. Parents send their children to public schools with the idea that these schools attempt to protect and care for their children while they are in the buildings. So why are the schools, teachers, administrators not doing more? These deaths are just as much the schools' faults as it is the bullies.

The age at which children are also committing suicide is frightening. When the victim is a single digit age, and they would rather kill themselves than enjoy cartoons or playing outside then that is a clue that something is becoming severely wrong in our nation. Why are children becoming so hostile towards each other? Is it the movies and television they watch and think that if actors and characters on the shows can get away with it, so can they? Is it the lack of parental discipline? If a child bullies another, and they aren't disciplined with more than a "go to your room" punishment, they obviously they got away with it.

What can we do to stop this? What can we do to stop all bullying? Well, all bullying will never be stopped, it's been in schools and even in workplaces for generations and will always be there. But at this point, something needs to be done. Someone needs to step up and say "Enough is enough, if you won't do something I will." but what can we do? A petition? A lecture? What can we do to ensure that the younger generations do not continue to dwindle down due to their suicides from bullying?

Below is a link to a petition created to give all ages, races, genders, and more a chance to stand together and unite to end Bullying. Please sign and support.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/570/110/924/stop-the-bullying-stop-the-pain/