My son was in elementary school at the time his bullying occurred.  Luckily, it was not badly hurt or physically injured.  An older child in his class used to push him around and call him names, mostly after school during dismissal.  My son didn't tell me immediately I found out one day after questioning him walking home and he broke down and told me that this bigger kid keeps bothering him.  His teachers didn't do anything when he told them, it wasn't until I spoke to the dean and assistant principal that it was made an issue.  The young man was "spoken too" and then removed from my son's class, after which the bullying deceased.  My son is now 11 and in the 6th grade.  This happened when he was in the 4th grade.  Thankfully, he was not physically hurt but emotionally it affected him.  Now he is more open and sticks up for himself in order to defend himself from inconsiderate children.  My sons case is small but every incident of bullying leads to bigger issues and all incidents count.  Stop it at its root before it festers and causes more issues.

                                                 -Dedicated mom and Educator

I'd heard stories about bullying for years, but it'd never affected me- so why should I worry? That was my mind set up until I was 14. I made a new great group of friends that year who changed my life and how I thought. I had friends who were constantly talking about what they'd heard someone say about them. Some nights I'd get calls or texts of someone upset because of rumors and gossip being spread. How could I have missed this going on for so long? Then I started hearing stories of people hurting themselves and some even killing themselves over what people had done or said to them. Soon after, a really good friend of mine told me that he was gay. As he told me stories of what people had said to him and done to him, I was just blown away. It'd all happened in front of my face, and I hadn't even noticed. The few times I did notice, I looked straight through it.

Then freshman year came. People can be so cruel. They cut you down with words. They tell you that something is wrong with you when you're actually perfect the way you are. But I was just getting destroyed by all of these people who thought they were so great and so much better than me. It was killing me inside. I felt so broken, but the only thing getting me through was knowing that I wasn't the only one. I let myself believe that if I wasn't alone being hurt, then maybe it was something that was just acceptable.

Sophomore year (this one) has came and is almost over, but a few weeks ago something just hurt my county. A young junior boy who many people had or did go to school with committed suicide. I never had the pleasure of truly knowing him, but so many of my friends did. That night, something in me just lit up. As sad as I was, I reached a point of anger. How could people say such awful things? How could the people tweeting have the nerve to say "Words can kill." when they are the same ones pushing people around and cutting people down? I couldn't take it anymore. Now here I am. The fire inside me hasn't went away and I just have to do something. I can't sit back and watch anymore. How many people have to hurt themselves or take their lives for people to see that words can hurt people in ways they can never even see?  No more watching. Time to do something.

many people call me short. Its so true. I always believe them and I try to hold back the tears. People call me short, midget,shorty-kins,and many more names. I have always been the shortest in my class, the one who gets bullied, and the one who nobody likes. On websites, people cyberbully me. they called me faggot. I hate it. Often i have ups and downs, fame and hatred. If i do something wrong, i feel like i should not exist. But, I stand up for myself. I may have scars that people laugh and laugh about, but i ignore them. Anyone whoo reads this, and gets bullied, ignore ignore ignore. Ignore those mean people. Sure, the world may be against you, but dont care. just ignore. Dont answer back, just ignore. Even of they hit you or call you names.   So i stand up for myself.

This started when i was only 4 years old. I had accidentally cut off my thumb on my left hand, They called me many names, and since that time it's never stopped. I watched as my older sister joined my bullies side, and as many of my "friends" joined as well. I was in middle school when the first time I had attempted to take my own life, I failed, people still continued to laugh at me, beat me up. 8th grade, i took a stand. It led me to be pushed in front of a moving bus, had the bus not swerved to miss me i would be dead. Teachers/ principles said they we're just being kids. The police and my lawyer got the 5 girls arrested for attempted murder. It was my beginning to understand that i had to use my resources to end this.

High School started and my new hell was more than i could handle. My new friends were my only saviors at this point, lawyers, police, all useless.  People put nails in my shoes, pushed me into the pool with all my valuables on me. My breaking point at this time was when a new mob was joined to my list of bullies, the school christian group. I again attempted to take my life, still failure. Failure at death failure at life, i dropped out of school to just escape it all.

Through out the hardships though that i encountered, a drug overdose and anorexia made me see that, all i can be is me. No escape could make it better, they just win, so i just gave up the fight and stopped caring. I saw how it was to be care free and its wonderful! i stopped feeding into it, and it stopped.

Now i'm happy, married, have a GED and going for a degree! It gets better and I can say Bullying made me into who i am today, i'm better and stronger.

i sianne harris have token a stand. my teacher ms. brynes had our class to watch a movie where the people who created this son had token his life because of bullies. so stop stop bullying you go to far where someone has to take their lives. i also wrote a letter to the long's family i hope you get it i told you i was going to join the bully project and i have keep my word. i plenty of more to say but i have said all in my letter to the long's family at school i would love for you to come to my school and stop bullying. 

I USED TO FEEL SOOO ALONE BACK IN GRADE SCHOOL (3-7 GRADE ) THE KIDS WOULD PICK ON ME FOR EX THE WAY I TALK I TALK WEIRD AND HOW I WALKED AND KIDS WOULD PIONT AND STARED, THEY LAUGH AT ME BECAUSE I WAS A LONER AND LOOKED WERID BUT I TOLD MY TEACHERS BUT NOTHING CHANGE IM 17 YRS OLD NOW THINGS GOT BTTER BECAUSE I STOOD UP FOR MYSELF I GOT TIRED OF ITT I TRIED TO KILLED MYSELF 3 TIMES BUT  MY FAMILY  .... TO BE CONTUUEDD

a good friend of mine commited sudcide the other night do to bullying, two years prior to that, her sister did the same thing. she did nothing, she always came to school with a smile on her face. I think its stupid that someone has to take their own life for people to wake up and realize bullying is not ok. it shouldnt! people should know that bullying is not ok because its not! it needs to stop! the school does nothing about it, they just let it go and move on like it was nothing, well it was something, she was a student here who took her life do to bullying, and you lettting it go like its nothing, are you kidding me? its not right and i can't stand when adminatration lets stuff go like that. we need to do something about bullying in schools. have them wake up and realize that this isnt right.

  I'm a 38 year old single parent of 3 boys.  They are Brandon 14, Griffin 11, and Aidan 8.   In my house boys will be boys and they are always at each other fighting or calling each other names.  The thing is they are family and even though they do that I always assume they'll get past it because they're brothers and in the end though they may irritate each other,  they stand together and defend each other from outside threats.  Be that as it may, my youngest child is a little on the heavy side.  I worry so much about his health because once been going thru the same thing.  But according to his doctor he has to wanna change and though it may take a couple years she's confident he will.  The thing is I worry because I know kids at school tease him and even his own brothers call him fat and whatnot.   Though I constantly tell them to never call him that...it just seems it falls on deaf ears.  I know that it gets to him and when he tells me about it i tell him not to listen to what anyone says about you.  I tell him that I'm big to and so what...i don't let anyone bother me.  But he's a kid and i know all the ridicule can damage him.  I see these shows like Bully where kids kill themselves when they just can't take it anymore.  And i pray that my son will never get to that point.  It would destroy me if anything happened to any of my kids.  I consider myself a strong person but if something happened to them i would seriously lose it.  I would be filled with a rage unimaginable.  My heart would die.  I'm afraid for my son... I'm afraid I'm gonna fail to do my job...to protect him.  

I'm a 25 year old man who has never forgotten my past with bullying. Though it has become much easier for me to live with, it will haunt me until the day I die. 

I was always an effeminate kid. My parents hoped I would grow out of it, but I never did. For years, I grappled with what I could do to blend in. I tried playing baseball; my father likes to show home videos of me running to third base instead of first after I hit the ball. Though it's funny now, I think back on those times and think of how desperately I wanted to be typical. I just wanted to be a normal kid. I tried wearing a certain kind of clothing and like what the kids I thought were cool liked. Of course, in elementary school, they all gave me a chance but, by the time I entered middle school, the divide between myself and them became more difficult to bridge. I had begun to be lightly picked on by the sixth grade. Nothing too terrible; just the occasional "faggot" or "queer." That was acceptable, because I had come to accept that I would referred to by those terms for the remainder of my life. If that would've been the extent of it, I could've lived with it. I just thought, "well, I'm weird; that's what I get for being so weird." Things began to get much worse. I remember being thrown to the ground in the hallway, only to find I was suddenly the day's comic relief. Kids began to tell me how ugly I was and that clothes weren't good enough. I remember a girl drenching me in cheap perfume once and telling the teacher, "he doesn't mind, he wants to be a girl anyway." He just laughed at me. When I would come home in tears, my mom would ask me what was wrong. My response was always: "nothing is wrong." She went to my school many times; the principal told me I should toughen up and retaliate. Of course, I didn't. I was too afraid to. In retrospect, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was because I didn't want to leave my family with the embarrassment of a "sissy" kid who couldn't take the heat of middle school. 

By high school, the bullying subsided. I still had no friends, but they found new targets. I stayed to myself and stuck it out for the sake of finally being able to be who I wanted to be once I graduated. I came out to my family when I was 16. My mom told me I was going hell. By the time of my graduation, many kids at school caught wind of my coming out. I had become something of a local celebrity. Everyone wanted to be friends with the newly out gay kid in town, even those people who had bullied me in the past. I forgave them. I will, however, never forget. I suppose I should thank them now, because they have shaped me as a person. 

If I had to say anything to young LGBT bully victims, it would be what I told my mom so many years ago. Nothing is wrong. There is nothing wrong with you. Stay strong and persevere. Life is so much sweeter on the other side of being bullied. I promise.