During lunch in High School I had a guy that would follow me around and whack my elbows with a tennis racket he had.  We took art class together and talked some even if we weren't really friends.  This lunch time habit of his escalated and I kept asking him to stop.  He really started hurting me and even started bruising my elbows.  I don't know why he was doing this to me and didn't know what to do to get away.  I would try hiding from him and eating my lunch where he couldn't find me. 

I finally went to my school counselor and asked her to assign me a different lunch period because of all this.  She wouldn't do it, told me there was nothing she could do about it.  I truly felt unsafe during these times and felt like my school administrators had abandoned me.  Luckily I was had some great friends who helped me through it.

In grade school my friends and I walked to the bus stop. We would go to school and come back home. Then we would do homework and then got together at the park to play games and hang out untill we had to go home. I was fat so the summer before fifth grade I went to fat camp. When I came back and started school everyone was bullying me. I got bullied so bad that I started walking to school and walking back home by myself. One day I notice that there was a girl in front of me walking in the same direction. She went all the way down to my house and crossed the street. She literally lived a crossed the street from me. One day she said "hi" to me we talked and decided to became friends. The bullying never stop, both of us got bullied everyday. For me it was so bad that my mom made me go to another school. It was goodbye, but not forever we are still in contact today. I was scared, but I feared for nothing. Everyone was nice I even met a girl I new from years before. Then by the end of the year people became mean. I wish I knew why. Then summer came I went back to fat camp. When school started again I was now in sixth grade and ready to take in any challenge life threw at me. People were still mean but three, my best friends. I ask some of the people that were mean why they were so mean to me the answers I got from almost everyone were "because its fun". My first thought was what is fun about making people feel miserable. The year went on, my second best guy friend became my boyfriend. Bullying happened all year again. school ended went back to fat camp and then went back to prison I mean school again in the fall for seventh grade. My boyfriend was still my boyfriend, my best guy friend was still my best guy friend, I had a new best girlfriend and bullies were still bullies. My life hasn't changed sinced I moved homes and schools, so I thought. So my life sucked at school with all the bullies but I hadn't realized I was an all A student. I was also stronger,mentally at least. I had notice that back in fifth grade I had quite a temper but here when I'm bullied I just brush it off. I'm still in seventh grade thank god the year is almost over. I'm going back to fat camp this summer for the forth time and this time I will keep the weight off and lose more. My life is what it is and I'm okay with that. The bullies are getting tired of bullying me because they don't get the reaction they want. So the only good thing out of being bullied is that it made me that much stronger, mentally at least. I am proud of myself and I would like for those reading and getting bullied to just remember that everything they say means that they are jealous of you or they like you. I hope I have inspired you all to ignore,be nice and keep moving forward and I hope that I have made a difference. Thank you for your time!

I had moved to Iowa in middle school in the 6th grade. I found myself sharing a locker with one of the new kids named Riley. We were good friends at first for the first semester, and then some of the students started calling him names. Even one teacher stated for him not to "run in the halls, because he might lose weight." He became a very mean person and eventually threatened to bring a gun to school. My friends and I told the principal and something was done about it. Since then, the bullying on him just about ended and he ended up moving away for awhile. He returned freshmen year in high school and found out I was one of the people who told the principal about his threat. I explained to him that it was for everyone's safety and that I didn't mean to cause any trouble or make him feel bad. I apologized to him for the things that everybody said and for making myself distant from him. I didn't bully him, but I didn't defend him, either. I should have been one of the people to stand up for him. Today, I am friends with him on Facebook, and he seems like he is doing alright in life. I still regret not being one of the people to stand up and defend him.

When I was in middle school I ran with a crowd of shallow girls where everything was a competition oneverything! like who can get the most attention from boys, who had the most friends, who was the prettiest...It was ugly and mean. We picked on people, we lied, we did things I regret even to this day. We felt invinciblebecause not even the teachers would try to stop us. In this group I was a complete follower and I hated myself. Luckily, I came to my senses when I saw just how much my actions were hurting the people around me and I realized how disgusting I had been acting. I stood up to my so called 'friends' and never spoke to them again. The best part was that in my eighth grade year, I finally found a group of friends who were real! and that I still respect to this day, years later.  The freedom I felt when I had those true friends....the relief! it was indescribable! I realized that I had been so afraid to fit in, of what other people thought of me that I had changed who I really was into something I hated just to be thought of as 'cool' accepted. The reality is that I had never been accepted by those 'it' people and why should I have wanted to? They had nothing to offer but sadness, hatred and regret. I was picked on just as badly as the people we had picked on by constantly having to prove myself to those superficial girls. 

I can say this with 100% surety that if I hadn't stood up to those girls and ended all contact with them I would have never been happy. I would have moved through my life trying to constantly please others who aren't even worth it. I would have lost who I really was and lived a selfish life and not realized that you can't always judge a person by there appearance.

If you are an outsider, that person out of the click looking in and wishing they could be with that it group, then I want you to just consider this...the grass is not always greener on the other side. You need to be the strongerperson and walk with your head held high. You need to realize that those people are fickle and have someserious issues of their own and its you who has the advantage over them because those people can't even realize how meaningless they really are. 

There is no excuse for bully. I hate the intent to hurt someone just to make yourself feel better, to put somebody else down so that you don't become the next victim, to allow it to happy so you can impress someone who isn't worth the time of day. Its all just one big cycle of pain. 

It needs to stop.

When I was in middle school I ran with a crowd of shallow girls where everything was a competition on everything! like who can get the most attention from boys, who had the most friends, who was the prettiest...It was ugly and mean. We picked on people, we lied, we did things I regret even to this day. We felt invincible because not even the teachers would try to stop us. In this group I was a complete follower and I hated myself. Luckily, I came to my senses when I saw just how much my actions were hurting the people around me and I realized how disgusting I had been acting. I stood up to my so called 'friends' and never spoke to them again. The freedom I felt after that....the relief! it was indescribable! I realized that I had been so afraid to fit in, of what other people thought of me that I had changed who I really was into something I hated just to be thought of as 'cool' accepted. The reality is that I had never been accepted by those people and why should I have wanted to? They had nothing to offer but sadness, hatred and regret. I was picked on just as badly as the people we had picked on by constantly having to prove myself to those superficial girls. 

I can say this with 100% surety that if I hadn't stood up to those girls and ended all contact with them I would have never been happy. I would have moved through my life trying to constantly please others who aren't even worth it. I would have lost who I really was and lived a selfish life and not realized that you can't always judge a person by there appearance.

If you are an outsider, that person out of the click looking in and wishing they could be with that it group, then I want you to just consider this...the grass is not always greener on the other side. You need to be the stronger person and walk with your head held high. You need to realize that those people are fickle and have some serious issues of their own and its you who has the advantage over them because those people can't even realize how meaningless they really are. 

There is no excuse for bully. I hate the intent to hurt someone just to make yourself feel better, to put somebody else down so that you don't become the next victim, to allow it to happy so you can impress someone who isn't worth the time of day. Its all just one big cycle of pain. 

It needs to stop.

Every day in Junior high I would get bullied by the so called "popular" boys at school, they would call me names and say that I was ugly and I needed to put some makeup on. I never listened to them until 7th grade when I was in class and the guy I liked told me that I would be prettier with makeup on, everyday I woke up and spent a while perfecting myself for a guy,  he made fun of me and said I looked stupid and dressed funny, I moved away. Sophomore year came around and I moved back into town, I went to the same school as all the kids I knew from Junior High and they still made fun on me they would walk by and gag at me, or boo at me. I tired so hard to fit in, it drove me to the point I was so upset I begged my mom to move away again, ever since i'm a happier person and have real true friends. Don't ever let someone make you feel so ugly because you not, whoever you are YOU'RE beautiful <3

Growing up I was overweight and was always made fun of, even by my mother and sister. I have always been insecure about myself even to this day and I am 28. My family moved around a lot and I was always the "new kid". I never fit it, I was never anyone's best friend or first priority, I tried so hard to make friends but my efforts didn't pay off because I tried too hard and it showed. I am now fit and take health and fitness very seriously and worked with kids for 5 years. My favorite job was a business I started but it never really took off... I was a health and fitness instructor for home schooled kids in the efforts to not only educate them about nutrition and exercising, but learning to be social with others no matter how different they may be. I hope my addition to your movement can make even the slightest bit of difference. I will do anything I can...

I am going to give my testimonial... I was brutally bullied from lower education through High School.  This video was spot on in many cases, but I do feel that school officials have always and will always be numb to the pain that goes on through the bullied.  These schools are way too overlooking in concerns of those who are defenseless. 

The children in these schools are looking for popularity and public favor just as our powerful officials governing our country.  When these kids are in a group they gain power and are willing to sometimes do what they wouldn't do alone.  The popular are safe.  Time and Time again, I could almost predict when something was going to happen.  It's a system... and it can be cracked.

I was pretty darn creative as a kid.. I was called paranoid, sensitive, dumb, gay, and loser more times than I can actually count in a lifetime.  I was emotionally crushed, ganged up on, threatened on a daily basis, etc...  I wasn't like the other kids... I was a bit of a momma's boy...  I didn't believe in violence (but all the other kids did).  I had a hard time making friends, and keeping them.  Yes, the kids in school will attack the kids who would befriend me.  Even at times when I was trying to ask girls out. (which stunted my relationship experience) So, it was tough being able to trust... because those really nice kids could turn on you at a drop of a hat.  I remember crying almost every night because I didn't want to face the bullies

I can honestly say that taking karate did help some... I'd highly recommend that parents enroll their kid in a good karate school.  make sure it is a little distance from the school.  That way other kids who may be bullies aren't in class with your child.  "Karate is for defense only"... loved that saying as a kid.  Being non-violent, this was a good way to build my confidence.  (unfortunately, it was a few years late...)  My image was trashed from all the past bullying.. 

Due to the excess of bullying, I finally stood up for myself in the 6th grade.  I was being harassed during class while the teachers back was turned (flicking my ears, hitting me on the head, etc), my temperature just built up...  I dove out of my desk onto the kid who was harassing me and took him out of his desk and to the ground where I pinned him.  Even than, I never hit him... I just pinned him.   The teacher sent us to the principals office but on the way, the teacher stopped me and told me to go to next period.  (This was a teacher who knew what was going on, but never did anything for the whole term... I would like to honor him, but honestly... He never did anything to stop the harassment.  He just knew that I was innocent)

Why was the young man soo "numb"? He was numb because he knew if he fought back that he was going against more than one.  And, if his parents complained enough to get the bullies in trouble with the school, after taking the punishment (which is only lecturing), the bully would be strategising to find something else they could do.  It is very easy to go to a dark place when you are numb.  I can honestly say that I can't remember many years of my past...  I can say that it was very hard on my parents and to them I owe my heart.  I remember taking out my anger on them and being an absolute pill.

High School pep rallies were horrible!!!  Mass Chaos!! This is where being alone can be the worst.  Groups and Cliques are all together, so its like dodging shots the whole time.  So, if you were one of the cool kids, this would have been the best times... but when you are the bullied, it is treacherous... 

I could go on and on, but let me leave you with this... I honestly can say that it was a miracle that I survived through the schooling years.  If certain things didn't play out in my life the way they did, I definitely could have been another suicide victim.  I will always support those who are weaker, because I was once a victim.  With a lot of self-help, counseling, and strength I was able to move forward in my life.   I pray for all the victims and share my heart with them.

Jeffrey Smith

Bullied 84'-96'

Apollo Beach, Fl

When i was 11 i was sexually assaulted by my mom's boyfriend at the time. Well it eventually got around the school and everyone found out, i found out that the girl i called my best friend told everyone. When i went to school i would be called a slut, worthless, they would tell me i wanted it to happen to me, that it was my fault. At the time i believed them i mean i was an 11 yr old little girl. I would come home crying everyday so my mom transferred me schools. Things got a lot better than they were. Now here i am at the age of 16. i'm a lot stronger, i know it wasn't my fault. i know not to believe everything everyone says. what i've learned through me being bullied is that you should tell your friends anything personal like that unless you can really trust them. 

My freshman year of high school, I had met some friends online and we began video chatting. One of them flirted with me and I flirted back. I found out he had a girlfriend, but he told me they were nothing serious and he didn't like her that much. I told myself, if he doesn't care then why should I. So we continued talking, and eventually she found out. Her and I attended the same high school, she was two grades above me and I never got the end of it from her and her friends. They would spread rumors about me, constantly call me, scream at me in the hallways, threaten to fight me, throw things at me, "pretend" like they were going to run me over with their cars, and even spit on me. I got to the point where if my phone started to ring, I would start shaking uncontrollably and felt sick to my stomach, just from the anxiety of always thinking that I'm going to be yelled at. This continued on into my sophomore year, which is when I ended up getting suspended from school for sticking up for myself when getting confronted by the girl in the hallway. Even though she graduated, I ended up switching schools for my junior year (this year) just to try to forget about it all and put it behind me. Even though the couple broke up, the drama still isn't over, because she won't let it go. And its taken some time, but my anxiety has gotten a lot better.