I was in 3rd grade. Who bullies an 8 year old? They did. I was hated till I was 6th grade when I graduated elementary school and went to a catholic school. For 4 years, I was called "ugly" "fat" "worthless" and told to die multiple times. I  started cutting myself when I was in 5th grade. It was little cuts but back then I  thought they were deep. I continued cutting for 3 years. Between 5th and 6th grade alone; i have 4 suicide attempts. 7th grade, I thought things would get better... I was so wrong. They got worse. I got involved more online cause kids in my class were my friends and wanted me too. The class above me hated it. They attacked me online by making fake accounts under my name and editing pictures to pigs. I was called "miss piggy". Too this day, i hate pigs. I stopped eating in 7th grade. By the end of that year, i had insomnia, manic depression, battling anorexia and bulimia and self harm, anxiety disorder and borderline bipolar. The year ended. That class graduated and now I'm in 8th grade. It was good until they started attacking my bestfriend and me online again. I started cutting again. I am struggling with this every day now but the bullying has calmed down and I am 8 days clean. It will get better.

I was an Air Force brat growing up. I was the youngest of four kids, me being the youngest and the only girl. We moved quite a bit for the first ten years of my life, so as you can imagine, I had to make new friends over and over again. I was a gangly little bucktooth, blonde hair girl, so my appearance with my teeth made me a target. I got my made fun of and was called a lot of names. It really hurt my self asteem. I never had a best friend. I felt like a loner. I would play with other kids but I think I most enjoyed playing alone or with my dog, of course, you know animals don't care what you look like or what you have, and they are very good listeners! Two things came out of this, i think. The good.. I love animals and have raised a lot of them, and it made me appreciate nature. The bad..being called those names and made fun of and put down has had a lasting negative effect on my life. I still struggle to this day trying to convince myself that I am worthy of anything. I second guess myself when it comes to motherhood, marriage (which I am now divorced), having friends and just basically feeling good in my own skin. I wish things would have turned out different. I wish I had stood up for myself more. And I wish I had asked for help and known that there were people who loved me enough to stand behind me. So I am letting you know that you are not alone in this. You don't have to take being bullied. You have the right to be happy. Because I don't want something like this to have a lasting effect on you.  Thank you...

Many people remember Benjamin Franklin as the man who discovered electricity. But did you know that he was bullied as a child? Yes, Ben was bullied by his older brother James. So badly in fact, that when he left home he did not return. Benjamin Franklin overcame bullying and went on to become so successful that he is remembered as one of the greatest inventors of all time and is one of America’s founding fathers. But how did he do it? This book is a fictional and inspirational story of how Ben was able to rise above the bullying and move on to accomplish many great things. Although we do not know exactly how Ben overcame bullying, we do know how the story ends. It is our hope that this story will help children who are victims of bullying to understand that they are not alone. Many famous people were also bullied throughout history and it can be overcome.

	Bullying Ben: How Benjamin Franklin Overcame Bullying ~ Richard Paul (author) More about this product Price: $11.99

My name is Alex I`m a girl but as a child I thought I was meant to be a boy. I later found out about what it meant to be transgender, gay, lesbian etc. I came out when I was 15 as a lesbian, but my story doesn`t start there. Im grade one I wanted to shave my head and have short hair, my amazing mother always knew I was gay and loved me no matter what and let me cut my hair. From then on I was bullied. I was called an it and he/she. I was also extremely thin due to genetics and called skinny, twig, gross, boney and more. This kind of name calling followed me throughout my school career. There were few time where I told and the bullying from one person stopped but there was always someone else at school or outside of school, and once I got to high school things got worse. I came out and among all the things I was bullied for before, being called a dyke, fag etc. was now added to the mix. By grade 12 I had very few friends and became depressed. I tired to kill myself, I suffered from self harm and began to hate life, thinking things would never change. I refused to let other people get to me. I became involved in anti-bullying acts at school, participated in an LGBTQ video to educate the public school system in my home town on bullying against LGBTQ youth. Now a days I get the odd rude remarks from ignorant people who are usually homophobic, but I'm not going to let anyone bring me down and I will never stop fighting to stop bullying. I'm now about to graduate from college as an Early Childhood Educator, and as huge influence on children at an early age my goal is to each acceptance of all, because once everyone see everyone as an equal no matter their color, sex, age, race etc. then there will be nothing to bully each other about. The change starts with you.

It started right when i was 9. Everyday i would go to school scared what might happen. I would get teased for my appearance all the time constantly. I would go home everyday crying my family knew what was happening but never did anything about it because they thought it was kid stuff but really i took it by heart. By years when on it got worse. I was cyber bullied to the point i didn't want to go online. Fat Jokes,Names,Pictures its was horrible. My Parents never knew this They always thought i was happy Jillian but no i was hiding the real way i was feeling. Finally i broke, I stared to self harm when i was 13 i felt like i only had that to comfort me. I really didn't have true friends that i could talk to because i was too afraid to tell them how i really felt.I just didn't feel safe. I starved myself, Became Bulimic. I was always compared to my skinny sister.... my family has always looked down on me because of my weight Ive always been the FAT UGLY SISTER. That teared me apart! No one know how i feel because I'm alway happy and cheerful to hide my insecurity. I hate everything about my body Ive always hated it! i got to the point i wanted to DIE! it was night but i was afraid so i went online to see a boy band called "The Wanted" i listened to Ill Be Your Strength and they saved my life. I still get bullied to this day and i still have my moments where i cry myself to sleep and I've stopped self harm though :) Ive saved many lives by saving and helping them through committing  and Ive made my own anti-bullying project called HopeFaithNOH8 

It started when I was about 15. My brother committed suicide because he was being bullied. I felt like it was my fault for so long. In a way it was because I should have done more but sadly I can't change that. About two weeks after my brother was gone, I went back to school. I was devastated but I had to continue with MY life. It makes me feel selfish to know that he is gone but I am still here. Anyway, there was a school dance when I got back and my parents thought it would be good for me to go. So I went. Wasn't exactly what I thought. Two really big guys walked up to me and grabbed me. One punched me and I fell. People stood there watching as they harassed me. I couldn't fend for myself because I broke my knuckles.

For the next few months I was harassed. I started cutting and burning myself. I had no one to turn to. I know it was stupid but I can't talk about my feelings. I then became emo. Really stupid. Nobody could figure me out. All of a sudden I was like the one scratch on a wall that would ruin the whole place. My mom found out and she had me change schools. I made no friends bc everyone would look at me weird bc my brother did what he did. They would just judge me. I was know as the weird guy who nobody liked. There wasn't even a reason for them not liking me. I changed to 4 different schools for about two years 'til I found the right one. I found a best mate. I even got a girlfriend. I was finally happy.

Just here to tell you to BE YOURSELF!!!!!!!! Don't let anyone's opinion of you change who you are. If someone has harassed you or hurt you, speak up for yourself. If your a loner, step out of your box and try. Nothing is wrong with you but you should still make an effort to have an average school kid's life.

My name is Ocean, and I am 16 years old. My name was the first subject of teasing. My story isn't as extreme as others, but to me, it was. Everything started when I was 11, when I began competitive swimming for fun, not to become a Michael Phelps. I was teased by a boy who was 3 years older than me for 2 years, but I never told the adults in my life because I thought I could handle it on my own. Turns out I was wrong. He teased me because I didn't have a "barbie body" in a swimsuit, and teased me because I wasn't the fastest swimmer in the pool. 

It got to the point where he would take my goggle cleaner, which was windex, and spray it in my eyes. He would call me all sorts of names, from pure idiotic childish names to very hurtful dirty names. After the only friend I had left the swim team, I was alone... No one would talk to me, or notice I was alive. Someone even sat on my bag when it was right next to me. The only time someone would talk to me was when they were asking the what the next thing on the swim list was. I would smile and walk past people, but inside, I was desperately fighting tears. Books always have been and always will be my forever friend, because in that time, I turned to books to keep my company.

I was hurting inside for so long, I even began to hurt myself. I would take a candle and pour the melted hot wax on my hands, and let it dry, just to peel off the hardened wax and see the small burns underneath. Once or twice I cut myself, but through that time, I found music. Singing was one thing that helped me express myself, and writing songs helped me say what my mouth couldn't bear to say. I also fell in love with acting, because acting let me become someone other than myself, someone different. And at the same time, I quit swimming and began volleyball, and I am now practicing with the Cayman Islands National Youth Team, and eventually the National Team.

It took over years for me to be 'accepted' into a little group of friends, and it turns out that those friends have been there for me and stuck up for me for. I have known my best friend for five years now, and even though we weren't close when my bullying began, we are closer than sisters now, and we stick up for each other when no one else does.

My self-harm is in the past now, even though I do play with melted wax from time to time, just for the fun of it. I probably wouldn't be the person I am now without my best friend, because without her, I would have killed myself. Books are still my favorite comfort because they take me away from my world. I'm forever grateful to Christopher Paolini for writing his series, The Inheritance Cycle. Those books kept me going when I couldn't do it on my own. I have read each of his 4 huge books 5 times, and every time I read it again, I find a detail I have missed. 

I have become a quiet person, and sometimes a loner, but I have learned to accept who I am, and if no one wants to hang out with me, that's their loss. I know I can be a good friend, and I know that I am none of the names they call me, and that's good enough for me. My personal quote is, "What other people think of you is none of you business." It has helped me to be confident in myself, and volleyball and acting has also helped to boost my self-confidence. I also lost weight the beginning of 2013, and I feel great now! Sometimes it just takes time to let the wounds heal, and yes, we will probably carry those scars for the rest of our lives, but we will know how to deal with them if it happens again.

I have never understood how or why people can be so cruel, nor can I ever hope to completely end it all, but I can try to make a difference. A 15 year old boy in my area committed suicide a few weeks ago because of bullying, and even though I never knew him personally, he played basketball at the same gym I play volleyball, and I would watch him play. I watched him play for over a year, and during that whole time, he never smiled once. When they announced his death at his school, his "friends" left the assembly laughing. I don't want that to happen to anymore victims of bullying, because that is just wrong.

I never stop fighting for the underdog, because that is what I used to be. No one stood up for me, and that hurt, so I am determined to never let anyone else be left in the dark to fend for themselves. To everyone else who is a victim, never ever stop fighting for what is right, and be a friend to the ones who don't have any. Be strong in the face of the enemy. Be the sturdy rock in the middle of a stormy ocean, and let the waves of insults wash right over you, and after the storm, you are just as you were before the storm. Strive for the best you can be, strive to be the stronger one in life. Don't let anyone else be alone when they need it the most. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are different, and if they tell you to be normal, say "Normal is overrated.", because its true. Always be uniquely you!!!

-Ocean Marie vanderBol-Costa

When I moved in the third grade to a place unknown I never imagined the issues I would have. I was in an unfamiliar place with very unfamiliar people. My lunch was stolen every single day. I was a third grader! But I never told anyone because I didn't want to cause issues. It got so bad that I had to put my lunch into my teachers purse and she had to lock it up in her desk. I was never the "popular kid" when I was younger and thought many individuals were my friends who weren't.

However, I grew out of being the person no one knew to the person that everyone saw. I got involved in middle school and shined in high school. But the only way I did that was to forget about the negativity that surrounded certain people and did my own thing.

There are always people that are going to put you down but you have to believe in yourself enough to get past that. So what if someone doesn't like you. Not everyone is meant to be friends. But also don't stoop to others level with bullying because it just makes others feel as hurt as you.

Hello,

My name is James and I am now a freshman in college. My story begins back all the way to fourth grade which is where my first encounter with bullying began. It started with a death threat written on the wall of the school.

I had transferred schools (family moving) to a small town school district where my graduation class was a mere 32 kids. 

I was never the most popular kid at all. In middle school there were times where I would be afraid to do simple things such as hanging out or being around certain people because of my worry of being hurt and bullied. It would happen day in and day out. I would skip school on purpose to not deal with it and there were times where I would think about how I would kill myself and more...My self-written spoken word poem I think will catch everything....

Middle School
Almost there. Almost high school, but wait - was it really that close?

When you're the child that is called gay everyday, when you're the child who is too scared to go shower right away after gym because of the fear of abuse... Is high school really that close?

Is high school really that close when in grade seven, riding the bus to and from school wasn't just a way of transportation, but a daily worry that you're like a tank in Iraq, worrying that you're going to go over a roadside bomb? Worrying that the peace will soon break and you'll be afflicted with abuse. Knowing that no matter where you sat, they still called you names and threw stuff at you. 

Is high school even close when you have to worry about making the struggle to just go to middle school? When the lie of "I'm sick" becomes synonymous with "I want it all to end?"

Is high school even on the horizon when each day you come home, you're thinking about different ways to kill yourself? 
"Do I overdose on the pills that are meant to heal?"
"Do I grab a knife and gut myself the same way someone does their trophy buck?"

High school, nor anything, is on your mind when you're sitting there at night - bottle of painkillers in the left hand and a bottle of alcohol in the right. Praying that after it's all over you just fall asleep and never wake up. Letting everyone think that is was just your time --- WAIT

It wasn't.
It wasn't my time.
It wasn't my time to give up.
It wasn't my time to let my parents be without their child.
No
However, it was a different time.
It was my time to grow stronger, 
it was my time to be able to help others.
It's now MY time to be here today, to prove that they were wrong!

...To prove,
that it does...get better.

"Middle School"
Spoken Word
James Sheets

I never really had friends at school, i could say that im shy and most of kids where the popular ones. When i went to junior high school it was a bit hard to get with it..new people, new friends..It was difficult to make friends because no one wanted to be friends with a shy and quiet girl like me. Boys were like ''she is ugly, i'd never date her, she is boring.." etc in front of my face and girls were like ''She is stupid, why is she still alive, i'd never want to be her friend'' and stuff.. I had friends, but fake ones.. I was like always following them, trying to be friends with them but they just ignored me.

1-2 years later i started posting youtube covers. Somehow my schoolmates found them out. They shared my videos on their facebooks saying stuff like ''she cant sing. is she stupid or what, why does she posts videos? she is so ugly. she thinks she will be famous, u have no voice! hahaha'', at school everyone called me with my display name on youtube..i was in the school yard, or class and they were saying ''hey (mn) your famous, omg sing us something hahaha'' and the teachers said nothing at all. Anyone knew about my videos and they were gossiping about me. They came to me saying ''omg i love your videos! u have nice voice :)" and then, behing my back, ''hahaha how can she put videos on youtube? why dont she look herself in the mirror?". When i was going to school everyone was starring at me with a weird look, talking to their friends and looking at me. I couldnt help but getting sad. It was a nightmare! Oh, even, someday, a girl came and told me that the previous day some kids were watching my videos on computer class, all the kids, and they were saying negetive comments about me. I was feeling so hurt. Everyday i was coming home crying about all those things. I was so dissapointed. Why should they treat me like this? What have i done wrong? Is it so bad to sing? Everyone sings, why not me? 

They even made youtube accounts to dislike and comment on my videos. It was obviously it was them because they were saying stuff like ''i hate you, ur ugly, you're just a village girl, you have no friends, dont do this to yourself'' and stuff. I even got lots of hate comments like ''go kill yourself''..did they really wanted me to kill myself? Sometimes, i'd love to! Everyday at school was hard. Even my friends were laughing when people where making fun of me. I was all alone. That feeling sucks anyway. No one want to be friends with me. Lol even my friend said ''im friends with u no matter that everyone is making fun of you and they are making fun of me too cause im your friend. Feel blessed''

I could talk about this all day, all those things that happened there.. 

Today im still who i am..i never gave up on singing because its my dream. I have choices to give up but no i will not. My idol is Justin Bieber, and he teached me to never give up, so i will. I will fight for my dreams..Its been a year since all those hate comments on singing, and they still hate but i am who i am and that cant change.

Never give up, never lose hope, stay strong and true to who u are. Be yourself and do what u want, not what others want u to do. Its your life, not theirs! Do what makes u happy. Even if they will hate u..cause they will judge u anyway. Dont listen to them. They are just haters. Kill 'em with kindness. Show 'em they cant bring u down. You're stronger than u think. If God is with u, who can be against u? Smile, and never let anyone take away your smile! You only live once!

Thanks :)

Joanna Magg

*well i think my mom would be mad if she knew i posted my story here but never mind :(