I have faded nightmares of being a bully when I was young.  I don't remember the names of my victims, but I remember the anger I felt when spewing my hostility at some poor soul.  I don't remember what I did, but I remember feeling powerful and in control at the expense of someone else.  I grew up scared, alone and was often bullied myself.  To survive, I learned to hate and to promote fear in others.  It wasn't until I had children of my own, that I felt the power of unconditional love, kindness, and forgiveness.  I chose love and not hate, acceptance and not cruelty, and suddenly, I was free.  If you are bully, please have the courage to change.  Be better than you are and not let some horrid word or action be the last thing someone remembers about you.  Let yourself be free.

January 28, 2011 was not just the day after my 19th birthday. It was not just the day my brother proposed to his (now) wife. It was the day I knew in my heart that death was the only way to escape the pain I had felt, and the pain that had been building, for 9 years of my life. Those 9 years were filled with bullying, and an escalated habit of cutting myself. And on the 28th I finally smiled to know I was going to kill myself. And for that, I can see now I had hit rock bottom. To feel happy that you are going to die is something I wish I never felt. But that day, now that I look back, opened doors for me. I ended up drinking so much vodka that by the time I made it to the hospital, the doctors found no way I would've survived the night. But I did. And I know now it's because I needed to deal with my experience being bullied, and deal with, what I came to find out, was 5 underlying mental illnesses I didn't know I had. That one day saved my life.

To describe what I went through with bullying could be summed up in one word: deteriorating. By the time I was in sixth grade, I had been shoved and pushed in the hallways. I had been called fat, a loser, disgusting, worthless, etc. Students in my class wouldn't touch anything I touched because I was gross. I had girls refuse to work with me in group projects because they hated me so much. Groups of people would just laugh at me as I walked by. And I sat in silence while it all unfolded. In high school, I had been bullied online with the same name calling on my photos. I had groups of people follow me down the hallways yelling at me. I had been cornered and screamed at. People who sat behind me in class would throw pens, and crumpled pieces of paper at me like I was trash. My best friend even started horrible rumors about me with her new group of friends. I am 21 now and I know that that group still makes fun of me when they get together. 

When it comes to cutting, it took one paper clip scratched on my skin to open a release I was obsessed with. I soon used pens, pencils, and paper to cut myself while I was in school just to make it through. I drank my father's gin when I finally got home to numb myself. In high school, I started using scissors and knives to cut my forearms, my thighs, and my ankles. My first job at 16 led me to steal the box cutters and bring them home to cut even deeper. The night I tried to kill myself, I sliced my arm with fabric scissors. 

If anyone has read this so far, please let me tell you I have been to hell and back. I have suffered for so long but when I came home from school, after my suicide attempt, I got a therapist. I told my story for the first time and I realized I wasn't alone. It's taken me 3 years to find happiness and it's still a struggle sometimes. I am not perfect, and my recovery is ongoing. But if I can go through what I did and come out in the end wanting to live my life, than anyone can. I am a survivor. I have every reason to give up on myself but I keep fighting. There is strength inside me that I never knew existed. So if you're being bullied, there is hope. Even if you can't feel it, yet. You have the same strength that I have and you are not alone.

There is a whole community of people who have the same story, and I am one of them. I stand for anyone who is currently being bullied or has been in the past. We stand together. You are better than what bullies say, and are better than how they treat you. Hold on to your life and fight. I will stand behind you. And we will all stand behind you.

I've been cyber bullied, and verbally bullied on and off since middle school because of my looks. It used to get really bad. And I won't indulge in everything that happened, however just know that no one is alone in this. My bullying has now stopped, I have great friends who stand up for me, and I learned how to stand up to me too. Which is a great feeling. My story isn't that bad, but it was a small dose of what bullying can be like and feel like. In sorry for those of you who have it worse than I did. I hope the bullying stops soon...

A kid hit me in the eye but I wanted to tell but I was too scared to tell. I was afraid he would call me names. I am 9.

OK have you ever been so tired of being bullied? If so then I'm right with ya. I NEVER like being the person that tells on everyone. So I just let it go by and up until my 8th grade year. My best friend stared calling me names. I hardly see him now because hes at my rival school. So I decided to tell my teacher and they fixed it all up but now I think back and say, "Wow that felt good and a little bit bad. But it's good because I couldn't take it anymore." thanks to that i hope the rest of my high school years are just as clean as my freshman year is going.

"Never give up on what you think is right no matter what." - Susanna Fiala 

-Susanna Fiala Age:14

My name is Angel Thompson.  I actually go around to schools every day and educate students and teachers about bullying and how they can stomp out bullying in their schools.  This year my son became a one of the statistics of the 160,000 students who were afraid to go to school.  He stayed home for two days and actually went with me one day to speak to a school and he spoke out about his experience.  Did I mention that my son also has Autism?   His Autism is not what defines him, however it has made him a target.

Being a parent I am my son's strongest advocate in every aspect of his life.   I took a stand and spoke with the school as well as the teachers.  I can honestly say that his school has been incredible with there zero tolerance when it comes to bullying.  JT is back in school and we still keep a very close eye on the bullying issue.

Anytime someone does something with the sole purpose of hurting another...it is not "kidding" or "joking"...it is bullying.

I am thankful my son was able to tell me.  That the school was willing to listen.

I have a 9 year old son who went to a local middle school here in Logansport Indiana and my son had been picked on a couple times and was the one that was to blame for each time and my son was the one who had to eat lunch in the principal’s office, and neither time I was informed. Finally the last time my son told me about it the day before and I went and spoke with the principal and she told me her story about how a lunch lady had seen my son acting inappropriate and immediately took him to the principal I tried to explain to here that these boys told the lunch lady and these boys that told have been picking on my son but she didn’t believe me and said "well after today when he is done eating lunch in the office that will be his punishment and it will be all forgotten". Well thank heavens I know someone who works in lunch room and I went down during my sons lunch and spoke with her and she brought the lady who "seen" my son do what he did, and this lady told me she did not see anything and that she told the principal that 4 boys came up and told her this story. I then made another appointment to speak with the principal that day at the end of the day, told her the whole story and she didn’t want to find out anything. All she said was "well I am just as confused as you are now, this means someone isn't telling the truth". Really? So I let her know that I knew about the bigger bullying at that school. Like how a 4th grader was just arrested that year for beating up a second grader so bad. And that I knew about the 3 third graders jumping a smaller one at recess, a kid who had just had surgery and had stitches that were luckily not ripped open. It took a little girl running and telling the teachers because they were too busy talking. The kids fighting were expelled for a week but nothing happened to the teachers. The principal just had a look of surprise on her face. And then she was really upset when I told her that day was the last day my son was going there and I was pulling him out and he was enrolled just about an hour earlier to one of the country schools, which he loves. That was at the end of last year and my daughter just started there this year and they are so happy. All in all I am glad my son isn’t there anymore but then I feel bad for the kids that are still there and getting picked on. It use to be a great school when my kids father went there and now it has just gotten very bad.

I have a 9 year old son who went to a local middle school here in Logansport Indiana and my son had been picked on a couple times and was the one that was to blame for each time and my son was the one who had to eat lunch in the principal’s office, and neither time I was informed. Finally the last time my son told me about it the day before and I went and spoke with the principal and she told me her story about how a lunch lady had seen my son acting inappropriate and immediately took him to the principal I tried to explain to here that these boys told the lunch lady and these boys that told have been picking on my son but she didn’t believe me and said "well after today when he is done eating lunch in the office that will be his punishment and it will be all forgotten". Well thank heavens I know someone who works in lunch room and I went down during my sons lunch and spoke with her and she brought the lady who "seen" my son do what he did, and this lady told me she did not see anything and that she told the principal that 4 boys came up and told her this story. I then made another appointment to speak with the principal that day at the end of the day, told her the whole story and she didn’t want to find out anything. All she said was "well I am just as confused as you are now, this means someone isn't telling the truth". Really? So I let her know that I knew about the bigger bullying at that school. Like how a 4th grader was just arrested that year for beating up a second grader so bad. And that I knew about the 3 third graders jumping a smaller one at recess, a kid who had just had surgery and had stitches that were luckily not ripped open. It took a little girl running and telling the teachers because they were too busy talking. The kids fighting were expelled for a week but nothing happened to the teachers. The principal just had a look of surprise on her face. And then she was really upset when I told her that day was the last day my son was going there and I was pulling him out and he was enrolled just about an hour earlier to one of the country schools, which he loves. That was at the end of last year and my daughter just started there this year and they are so happy. All in all I am glad my son isn’t there anymore but then I feel bad for the kids that are still there and getting picked on. It use to be a great school when my kids father went there and now it has just gotten very bad.

I have a 9 year old son who went to a local middle school here in Logansport Indiana and my son had been picked on a couple times and was the one that was to blame for each time and my son was the one who had to eat lunch in the principal’s office, and neither time I was informed. Finally the last time my son told me about it the day before and I went and spoke with the principal and she told me her story about how a lunch lady had seen my son acting inappropriate and immediately took him to the principal I tried to explain to here that these boys told the lunch lady and these boys that told have been picking on my son but she didn’t believe me and said "well after today when he is done eating lunch in the office that will be his punishment and it will be all forgotten". Well thank heavens I know someone who works in lunch room and I went down during my sons lunch and spoke with her and she brought the lady who "seen" my son do what he did, and this lady told me she did not see anything and that she told the principal that 4 boys came up and told her this story. I then made another appointment to speak with the principal that day at the end of the day, told her the whole story and she didn’t want to find out anything. All she said was "well I am just as confused as you are now, this means someone isn't telling the truth". Really? So I let her know that I knew about the bigger bullying at that school. Like how a 4th grader was just arrested that year for beating up a second grader so bad. And that I knew about the 3 third graders jumping a smaller one at recess, a kid who had just had surgery and had stitches that were luckily not ripped open. It took a little girl running and telling the teachers because they were too busy talking. The kids fighting were expelled for a week but nothing happened to the teachers. The principal just had a look of surprise on her face. And then she was really upset when I told her that day was the last day my son was going there and I was pulling him out and he was enrolled just about an hour earlier to one of the country schools, which he loves. That was at the end of last year and my daughter just started there this year and they are so happy. All in all I am glad my son isn’t there anymore but then I feel bad for the kids that are still there and getting picked on. It use to be a great school when my kids father went there and now it has just gotten very bad.

It started in 5th grade. I was the new kid at a very small, very religious public school. I wore things that they considered weird and wasn't very religious. This was the first problem. There was constant picking and teasing, and I got death threats on a regular basis. When brought to the school, my teacher merely said that she hadn't witnessed it, and therefor could not do anything.

In 6th grade, I came out both as bisexual and an atheist. Right at that point, things became terrible. While I had friends, I was still being ganged up upon and forced into conversations I tried to avoid. Very often, teachers would join in on these conversations, despite me being obviously uncomfortable. Besides the conversations, I was avoided. I got the disgusted "Eugh" when I got near to anyone. Whenever it was brought to the school, and it was multiple times, either the school fended it off with "They're just kids, they're curious." or when they did talk to the kids, it only got worse.

I don't know why, but I thought 7th grade would be better. I was very very wrong. We got new kids in that grade, and they were dragged into conversations as well. The little irritants that I have got out, and they would use them against me over and over, seeing how long it would take me to snap, and then laughing at my anger. Instead of getting more patient with it, my temper got shorter and shorter, to the point where now I skip annoyed and irritated and angry, and go straight to rage. Now, I've always been known as the smart kid, and it became a common thing for teachers to group me with people who needed help. However, these people were my bullies. They had been reported many times, and were supposed to be kept away from me, but it never happened.

Now, in 8th grade, most of the bullying has died down, due to my bullies moving after threats from my sister (who, after multiple failures to get the school involved, took matters into her own hands). But it's still there, and it still left its scars. Religious difference is never a reason to bully, I never judged these people based off their religion, however many times it persecuted me, yet even though my religion (Or lack thereof) did not persecute them, I was bullied due to it. Tolerance is something that should be enforced, instead of intolerance being encouraged, as it was with my bullies.