My son is a quiet passive child who just wants to learn and love. He is 13, Has long hair just like dad. I am an ex musician/vocal teacher of heavy metal, Rock and country. So my child is an artistically influenced child in every way possible. My son wears glasses also. He get called little girl, Faggot, queer, gay boy, lesbian, freak, bitch, hooker and on and on and on. I have been fighting with my school district over this for years now and they just keep giving me the same old bureaucratic BS run around. I have 2 Sons here..I have a 14yo also who is more apt at defending himself and more ready to do so. He almost never has an issue with other kids and infact much to my pride defends other kids when he can without causing himself trouble with the school who will put the County Attourney on my but for pulling him out of school but won't do more than call and talk to the parents of the offending children..it's been the same kids all along with a change in staff if you will here and there. I have told the district to Kess My Arse and have removed my son from the district because it is ultimately up to me to make sure my son is safe and I will no longer force him into a situation that is tormenting and abusive. I guess I am gonna have some legal issues soon but at-least my son won't have to deal with this crap for awhile at-least I hope. I am not good at public activism nor home schooling but I guess I have no choice now. Thank you all for your wonderful work I just hope I can be a true contribution beyond our situation. Oh and yes Mom is in the home also. My wife and I have been happily married for 16 years.

There is a time in everyone's life where they don't feel good enough, pretty enough, popular enough. They feel as though they are worthless and I want to say that none of it is true. YOU are strong and beautiful and kind, and it you keep going then that just proves how strong and independent you really are. Keep pushing through, find your support group and don't let the bullies win. You can show them how you feel good about yourself and that what they do or say doesn't and won't affect you anymore. I am here for you. I support YOU.

I am a 16 year old boy in highschool.  High school is one of the craziest things anyone experiences in your life.  I was a very outgoing person, but I was bullied in middle school.  I wasn't physically bullied, I never had any marks.  It was all in my head.  And that is the worse one of them all.  I was called gay because of the way I acted and dressed.  At first it didn't bother me, I just blew it off as though"Oh its nothing."  But it kept on happening, kept happening.  Then one of my good friends had asked me. And to make it worse, my sister had called me gay in an arguement.  That was when it fell downhill.  I felt alone.  I felt like no one was there.  I felt that I had only myself.  I had thought of suicide.  But could NEVER get myself to do it.  I cried alot and it was horrible.  But I did have some very supportive friends, and a very supportive mom.  So my message for you, is reach out.  If you are having thought of self harm.  Reach out.  Talk to someone, anyone.   Because it does get better, and people grow up.  Do not give up on yourself.  No matter who you are, you are amazing just the way you are.  Do not give up. <3

I have never really fit in anywhere. As a Freshman in high school, I look back and realize that every year I was verbally, physically, and emotionally abused at school, and up until I was eleven, it happened at home, too. The only safe place I had was my best friend's home, and even there I was picked on. 

When I turned eleven, I had moved from Florida to New York, a little away from where I was born. During this time, my step father's abuse became worse against my mother and I, and I was the new kid at school, immediately labelled as an outcast. Soon after, my mom had to leave our home with us kids or else social workers were going to take me away.

Times were hard. My mom had my two brothers, my sister, and myself to take care of. We had moved again to live with my aunt while the messy divorce began. Being the new kid again was even worse. It was now a heavily populated school, and every kid took their shots at me because I was a really socially awkward kid.

When my mom got back on her feet, the court had ordered her to move back where we were living because of the residential custody. Her ex husband didn't receive any punishment because I couldn't testify legally, since I wasn't his kid.

In sixth grade was when everything went down hill, the bullying increased, and one February morning I finally broke. I told my mom I wanted to die, so I was admitted for a week in the hospital.

Now, at fifteen, I live with my dad and I try my best to help out other kids by standing up for them. Some people in my school go through hell, but so far I haven't been bullied this year, and I've stood up for those who are. 

The way I look at it is, we all have voices, so why not use them?

I was Homeschooled until I was thirteen years old, and I didn't attend public school until the eighth grade.  I think middle school is difficult for nearly everyone, but it was an especially difficult transition for me, because I had no idea what it was about.  To sum myself up at that time, I would say I was a genuine and sincere kid.  I had played sports, and been a part of clubs, so I was very social, but I didn't understand the sarcasm and constant bantering that was a basic part of pre teen interactions.  In that school I learned to be insecure, not to trust adults or administrators, and that you could never really know your friends from your enemies.

High school came, and I was selected to attend the regional technical high school, one of the best in the country.  By senior year I was President of National Honor Society, Vice President of SkillsUSA, Captain of the Cross Country team, and Battalion Commander of the Marine Corps JROTC program.  I was a success.  

As many people knew me, a handful of them inevitably disliked me, or were jealous of my accomplishments.  It just so happened that my senior year my family split up, and I spent the course of the year in five different homes of relatives, just trying to finish out the school year.  Graduation was finally approaching, and my cousin encouraged me to try out to be the National Anthem singer at our graduation ceremony, since I had always been a decent singer.

I attended the audition, and was selected by the principle to sing at our graduation.  Unfortunately, auditions were held of "Senior Skip Day," and one of the girls who had desperately wanted to sing missed her opportunity.  The next day she came to school and started a petition against me.  She had all of her friends sign it, and I heard about it, and just laughed it off.

Come lunch time, one of the girls who despised me most got her hands on this petition.  She was the perfect example of an individual plagued by insecurity who would do anything to fit in, or put someone else down to make herself feel superior.  She went table to table with the petition in hand.  She told people I was a "whore" and that I had slept with so many boys, all around the school.  She also lied to people about what the petition was really enacting, and paid them to sign it in cash.

The whole time that this was going on, I was in lunch with my small groups of friends watching it.  Administrators that were my teachers, that KNEW me, and knew what kind of kid I was came by to ask if we were "okay," but did nothing to stop this.  The end of lunch came, and the girl who had the petition told me, "everyone in this whole school hates you," as she flashed me the papers covered with names. 

I spent the rest of the day shaking with rage.  I wrote a personal letter to the principle voicing that I had been victimized, and bullied, that something had to be done to reprimand these students.  Nothing was done that day, but promises were made.  I went home and cried, and cried, it was almost impossible to go to school the next day with the rumors circulating, but I did. 

I was called to the Dean of Students office, and they asked me what I thought they should do.  With graduation two weeks out, I proposed these students shouldn't be able to attend graduation.  Harsh as it may be, I talked about bullying, and I felt that it should be taken seriously what had happened to me.  They listened, and then explained to me they would be doing nothing.  Basically, with graduation so class, they just wanted to push these kids through the system.

I devoted four years to that school.  I was in smart, athletic, social, and a student body representative on multiple fronts.  But when it came down to it, they didn't care about me, how can a school thrive when it doesn't seek to protect its students? I graduated broken and angry, and swore to never go back until I could "show them."

I am now in college, I am a Biology/Pre Med student in Boston.  Last summer I volunteered in Africa for six weeks.  One of my teachers from shop has asked me back to the school to be a guest speaker on third world healthcare.  Finally, I am returning.  It has been more than two years since I graduated, I am terrified to go back, but now I will finally show them.  I am a success, and there is nothing that anyone can do to stop me from further succeeding in life. 

I'm an anxious person. My hands are always shaking. In fact, I don't think they ever stopped shaking since I reached high school and I don't think they will ever stop. At school I was bullied, at home I was insulted for all possible reasons. At 18 I left and decided to start my own life but not without several challenges. I took a healthy distance from most members of my family, I moved out of town, made new friends and quickly wanted to be loved by everyone. My self-esteem was (and still is) fragile and any mistake can make me hate myself. And so I used to show a fake smile to these said-friends. I had absolutely no limits and would tolerate anything as long as I was loved.

I slowly learned to stand up for myself and claim the respect I deserve. Some of these friends then naturally disappeared while I also met wonderful persons that are still close friends and confidents to this day. I met truly wonderful persons the moment I offered myself some respect! I also met an amazing caring boy who has now been my boyfriend for 3 years. I got back in touch with my family and started living finally what I was dreaming about all those years.

Even though I'm now surrounded by loving and caring persons, that ghost comes back and haunts me sometimes. I'm always analyzing everything I say or do, making sure I never make a fool of myself and I'm constantly living the shame that comes with a mistake or a wrong decision exponentially. I'm still the bullied in my heart per moments and I need to convince myself of my own value. I have amazing projects going on but often I will find excuses to stop them. I'm afraid to face failure or peoples' judgment. As if suddenly I could live these years back again.

I'm 27, I was bullied and while I'm doing way better than I ever did, while I now consider my life as being amazing, while being bullied made me stronger on several points, I'm still learning every day that I'm not a bullied anymore.

don't let the bullies win just keep your head up high one day I they will learn

My brother is now 26 years old, and is finally living the life he has always deserved. As a child my brother has always been very smart. He had to be given more advanced work in all of his classes. He was nice to everyone, played hockey, played baseball and had a great group of friends. Once he entered middle school all of that changed. Kids soon started calling him a fag, loser, and other names. One day this bully slammed my brothers head into a locker. He was hurt bad. The boy only got 3 days in school suspension because he was a foster child. Soon my brother began to have sezures. It was already bad enough that he was being bullied before but now because of the sezures it was worse. He then started having them in school. The kids started calling him a freak and that he should just die during one of them. My mother decided that she would pull him out of school and home bound him. Well soon graduation was coming and my brother still held a 4.0. As my brother was getting ready to take his final exam to graduate the principal said he couldnt graduate because he didnt spend the time in school like the other kids did. My mom took it all the way to the board and fought with them for weeks. She made a difference and my brother graduated! I love my brother and he went through a lot. I was lucky enough to be taking out of the school district I was in and the bullying stopped for awhile but it is in every public school in America. I hope that one day that, for future generations they wont have to deal with bullying.

I'm 20 years old my whole life I've been over weight. During junior high I have been picked on, been teased. Then high school came and I wanted to be different I made a lot of friends and I was always putting on a smile but all those teasing and remarks that were said about me in junior high came haunting me. I became extremely self conscious because of that, also very shy and worst of all I cut myself. I love music and its my passion its what i want to do but my weight stops me i think to myslef why try when im going to be laughed at. i tend to keep things bottled up because i hate attention and i dont want anyone to waste their time on my problems, I had never told anyone even on this day no one knows. I have also fallen to depression to the point that i dont want to go out because of my image. When I go out with my friends I seem like a happy person nothing's wrong with me, but the truth is I'm not I'm the most loneliest person ever. My family also teases me a lot about my weight all of my sisters are skinny model figures and it makes me even more sad I tried diets and exercises but when I do them my dad starts saying that I'm just going to give up anyways he never motivates me. I grew up with my dad and sisters my mom doesn't like me at all. I don't think my dad is aware of it but when he makes remarks like " you look like Buddha " or saying " moooo" to me it hurts me really bad. When i hear things like that i comfort myself with food and thats my problem. I've thought of suicude, joked around about killing myself but I know I don't have the guts to do it, there are times when I say I really don't care if I die get hit by car anything anymore. I know how it feels like to be a victim of bullying and thinking of killing yourself because you think that you're not worthy to live or you're useless. I know I'm going to make it somehow because I have hope that one day I will win this fight and reach my goal. everything starts with one.