I have always been a fun joyful spirit. I Loved life. That was before. I'm 16 now I go to high school in Los Angeles. Iv never seen bullying get physical. But it has happened. Teachers see it. Teachers don't care. I never got bullied when I was younger I was always the fun crazy one. I still am but I don't show it. A person who I trusted who I loved who was my best friend almost killed me. She called me a whore a slut trash worthless nothing. She called me every name in the book. She was  one of the popular girls in school so she had a lot of connections. Soon enough rumors went out about me. People stayed away from me, they laughed at me, and talked about me. I had no one..... This was the worst time of my life. I was all alone I started to cut. I would sit and cry my eyes out in the shower and just cut. No one helped me out of it I just slowly gave it up. I started to get suicidal I held a knife to my throut one night I made a little cut but I was shaking so much I dropped it. I cried to sleep that night and every night after that. I feel so insecure now im scared to make friends. When people look at me I feel so judged so humiliated. People think its just a phase. im still struggling but with my boyfriend and new best friend at my side im getting better. Everyone just needs that one good friend to love them and protect them. I am proud to say I am that good friend. My arms are wide open to anyone who needs a friend, listener or just someone to be there. I Elizabeth Moreno and even if im struggling I will fight to make a difference! to save a life... Peace and love to everyone

A smile not a stare. A compliment not a giggle. A highfive not a middle finger. I give love to you, why can't you return it? Why must you make fun  of me when I stand up for the kid YOU decide to make fun of? Not cool... You tell me to mind my own damn buisness as you continue to criticize an amazingly smart boy right to his face. Are you freaking kidding me? No. I won't "mind my own damn buisness." Thats my friend, and you're hurting him. and it needs to stop now. You turn to you're friends and shift your conversation to the topic of me. I forgive you for your ignorance toward the pain you cause, and pray that someday your life will change and there is still time for you to apologize to the ones you hurt. Good luck, and I hope that you find your way...

My name is Cheyenne and I was a victim of bullying for over 2 and a half years. It started the end of my 7th grade year and continued to 8th. My friends would tell me "just tell someone". I was too scared to. I was verbally attacked and only once physically attacked. There were times when I just couldn't take it. I would fake a smile but I would be crying on the inside. My freshman year was no different. I finally told my mom and she told the school. Though it didn't help much, actually not one bit. I kept my head held high but there were days that I couldn't take. I'm now a sophomore in a different brand new school and all new people. I'm not bullied anymore but I still have fears I will be. This is my second chance.

His left foot, crooked and wrapped tightly with a brace, sqeaks on the wet floor as he enters school on a rainy Wendsday morning. He walks, his left shoulder tilted towards the ground and his strutt off beat, to his first class. He sits in the wooden desk of his first hour class. He hears the familiar voice of a popular boy who is seated behind him fill the room. He continues to examine the inctricate patterns the wood makes in the desk and ignores the demeaning comments coming from behind him. He feels a sharp poke behind his ear, but does not flinch. He recognizes the feeling of pencil lead peircing his skin. He feels the small trickle of blood behind his left ear slide down his neck. The chants become meaner and louder. Thoughts race through his head as his brain connects pathways and calculates proabilities of the outcome of this particular situation. The bully gains a crowd. Soon he is surrounded. He begins to rock back and forth. Louder and louder it gets. His mind stumbles and trips, he cannot think. A tear slips from his deep blue eyes hidden beneath his glasses. A roar of laughter erupts from the ever growing crowd. His shirt is tugged and he is brought to his feet. He feels hands on his chest giving light shoves. He hears the word that hurts his loving heart the most radiate in mumbles, whispers, and shouts from the bully's congregation, "retard". Soon he is overwhelmed. He screams, stomps, shakes, and falls to the floor in a tantrum of stress and emotional pain. The crowd goes silent. And his vision goes dark. When he regains his sight he is in the calm room. Surrounded by blue padding he is given a chance to relax. He rocks back and forth examining the strips made in the fibers of the padding. So intricate, like him. He imagines the fingers of a woman weaving this for him, for his escape. He lies on his back and listens to the rain tap on the roof, and his eyes shut. Peace from the violence in a world for an Special Needs Boy...

My name is Mary. I am a special needs adovocate. I am 14 years old and it is my life goal to change the world. I want to bring love and peace to the world. Bullying alone is bad enough, trust me I know, but disabled kids do not understand how to productively handle it. There is no reason a special needs kid should be bullied, PERIOD. They are amazing kids with amazing personalities, talents, and accomplishments. People are just afraid to get to know them. It is my goal, that someday children of all abilities will see eachother for the equals that they are. Everyone has their weaknesses, some more visible than others. But we can use these weaknesses to make us strong. I have forgiven the kids who bullied me in Junior High. I forgave the bully who made fun of me yesterday, though he laughed at me when I said it, I smiled and told him to have a wonderful day. I pray for him, and all the other bullies in the world. "Forgive them Lord; for they know not what they do." Because they don't, and to stop them, we have to show them. Thank you Bully Project. Love one another. You're beautiful. Now let's change the world.

I was bullied while growing up I was bullied and had no friends, at all. Eighth and ninth grade year were the hardest, I was depressed, I cut, drank, did drugs. I wanted to just escape from life. I made friends in ninth grade who turned on me and told everyone about my life. There is a quote that I used to think of all the time. I'm still here but every day is a struggle. 

" I never thought of killing myself, but I knew that if I had gone to far I wouldn't care." -demi lovato

Hi , name is Jodice.I've wanted to do this for a while now, never had the courage to do it, here we go. The first time i wanted to die... Kindergarten. Yeah, thats when it all started on show and tell. i was a bright kid i read college books and was interested in geology and archeology at that time, I spent about a week tranlating my own book of hyroglyphics to show the class. I told them everything i knew about them the teacher said it was inapropriete to talk about that religion.  They all laughed, at play time i got rocks thrown at my head. All cause i was smart. The first time i  remember hurting myself, 2nd grade. I asked to use the bathroom, located in my classroom, took scissors in with me. The teacher did'nt even ask me what i needed scissors to go to the bathroom. I distinctly remember thinking " This can't hurt anymore than how they hurt me" Took the scissors, undid my ponytail and brought them down on my scalp and dragged down HARD, until i felt dizzy and it was hot on my head. Put my hair back up washed my face and walked out, the scissors were still in my pocket when i went home. from then on it got worse and worse, Around 3rd grade i had 1 true friend he was cool the other kids would make fun of him for hanging out with me. his name was Tyler M. He got hit by a bus, lived. He missed a bunch of school, when he came back they said he had brain injuries. I thought we could pick up where we left off, but he did'nt know me anymore, he remembered his popular friends " my bullies" and convinced by them i was'nt a friend. That year until 5th grade my best friend became my bully. Yep, now he would join in when the kids would spit on my food, pull my hair and kick me in the hallway. I felt like nothing. And i did tell the teachers, The principal, even my mom talked to them. My BULLIEs where th kids of those parents who donated the most, time , money, and bought the most things at the school. The said " I was being sensitive." Hell even my landlord's kid picked on me. The summer after 6th grade my old teacher came up to me and actually said " I'm sorry" and gave me $5 buck to buy some icecream. Now i now you think " money how lame?" He was the ONLY teacher who ever apologized to me for not believing me. Jr High was worst i started suffering from migranes every day the nurse thought i was faking and always called my mom, the teachers would believe even scolded me for saying " I'm sick, i need to go to the bathroom." That year The teachers were worst, the kids  were only temperary pain, teachers yelled at me for not understanding problems and kids called me stupid, mistake, trash. mixed breed. I went to a school for emotional childremn after that. i'm 19 yrs old now. I never thought i'd live to be in college, but here i am. And now all the kids who bullied me don't even remember me.  And i don't care about them anymore.
 I'm in my second semester

I am been bullied since I was in kindergarten, but it never got that bad until middle school from 6-8th grade, i was bullied real badly by the same group of kids, I tried to take my life about six times, and when my parents confronted the school about the bullying they said that there was nothing that could be done. So my parents and doctors got sick of trying and I was moved to a Catholic High School where such acts were said to have been "frowned upon". The story stayed the same there, as nothing was done to make me feel safe. I still tried to kill myself a couple times in highschool because the principals did not take a good approach to the whole situation as well as they should have.

Change needs to occur in schools where I grew up by and across America. It sickens me to see other people going through the same things I went through and that the town doesn't notice until someone takes their life and then the town tries to prevent it. Why couldn't they do more to prevent something like that.

I pledge to stand beside the victims of bullying but also to fight down the school districts to provide them with the tools to stop this from getting any worse. This has been a problem for decades and we deserve peace in this country and along with peace, we, as the victims, need to be treated equally by the people that think it is okay to bully others.

I had been bullied my whole life, mostly by kids at school.  I grew up living a hard life, and I felt like no one could help.  I made friends eventually, but they never seemed to care.  They always made me feel like an outsider, that I didn't belong.  Even my parents didn't understand my situation, when I went to my Step mom, all she said was that I had to suck it up and move on.  This is why I think there should be more bullying awareness, if one more person takes their life or even thinks about it, then there is not enough being done.....this needs to stop today.

                                                               -Rechael Valentine (Val)

I have been bullied since I was in elementary school. I'm now 16 years old, a sophomore in high school... When I was younger people would call me names just because I wasn't the best looking kid, or I didn't run the fastest, etc... They would call me names for the games I liked to play and the way I dressed. I kept trying to be somebody I wasn't just to get away from it all. In 7th grade is whenI came out to my parents as gay. It took some time for it to soak in but they were ok with it eventually. When I came out as gay that's when the bullying got even worse. People calling me names like "faggot", "dyke", "homo", etc... They would say things like "You don't deserve to be here", and "You are a disgrace to humanity." About 2 years after that I came out again as being transgender FTM. I wasn't comfortable with what I look like and I'm still not to that point .The depression from it all sunk in and after a while I just didn't feel anything. About a month ago I realized that it's time for a change. I'm not going to let this go on the rest of my high school years. This world needs a change. Children need to hear from their parents that bullying isn't right. Is it that hard to talk to your kids about it? If you would, you could be saving kids lives. Take the time. Stand for the silent. 

-Kaedyn D

I've always been bullied, had it been at home by my sibling, or at school by my classmates. I thought it was normal. In elementary school, I was called fat and was told that I smelled bad. I had no friends and I literally read my days away, trying to escape the bullies. When I got to middle school, the bullying got worse, but at least I gained a friend, right? 

Well, this friend that I gained was a bit of a bully herself. She constantly picked everything I did apart, making me feel bad about myself all the time. We got in a big fight and didn't hang out again for a while. 

I met another friend, and this is when the bullying got worse. This is in 7th grade. I was bullied on the bus and had to sit on the floor of the bus to even be able to get from point A to point B. I was scared to wear my glasses on the bus, and I left my books at school because they would be stolen had I not. After a while, my friend and I got into a small fight and made up. Nothing weird there. The next day, during our gym class, she ignored me. When I directly asked her why, she told me that I was ugly and terrible and that we needn't be friends any longer and she had better friends then me. 

I cried a lot. I had resorted to self injury as a coping mechanism. I told the counsellor about what had happened and then when me and my friend talked it over, she said that we could be friends outside of school but that it was too embarrassing during school hours. We did stay friends in this situation, but it was simply because I was too lonely to care if she was to embarrassed to be around me at school. 

In 8th grade, my friend wasn't there. She had transferred to another school and I was left to fend for myself. Within the first week I was pushed down the stairs around seven times and had my stuff stolen every day. On the fourth day of class, I told my mom that I was not going back, and sure enough she pulled me out to homeschool me. 

The school, however, refused to let this happen. We were called up to the school after about a month of me not being there, and they said that I could either continue going to that school or I could go to an alternative learning environment. They had told us that there was nothing they could do about the bullying since it was me against about 20 girls. 

I went to this new school and things got a lot better. I didn't have any friends but that was perfect okay. 

During the statewide testing that occurred every year, I got reunited with my friend from childhood, Mary. We are very much alike and we regained our closeness within 10 minutes of talked to each other. After this, I decided I would try to go back to the high school that I would have to attend for 9th grade, because Mary would be there with me.

Mary ended up leaving and going back to her ALE school after a girl threw a water bottle at her face. I was bullied once again because I had no friends other then Mary, and so I sat alone. My self injury got really bad around this time and the school counsellor sent me to a behavioural hospital in the state. I missed a week of school and that put me severely behind. Alongside that, I was drugged up to the point of lack of comprehension. I struggled to stay in school and ended up going back to an ALE school. I chose the one Mary was at.

I did good in this school until the teachers started holding me back in my studies because I was going to fast ad they couldn't keep up with how much work I was doing. This didn't make me too mad, I was just annoyed. 

I put in an application for the foreign exchange program to go to Japan that we have here. The same day that the lady that worked there called the principal in the school about my behaviour, the principal said I wasn't allowed to have two bags (which I had carried with me there since the first day I started at the school, a year and a half prior.) and I retaliated. She told the lady hat I was incomplaint and I was denied for the program.

After that, I decided that since I was bullied by the teachers there, I would leave. I went and got my GED. Within that time, I also quit self injuring. 

I am currently enrolled in college and have a supported family and 2 great supporting friends. Honestly if it weren't for the bullies I wouldn't be where I was today, but I might have been able to do some things that I was never able to as well. 

~Brianna