Yes I'm Going There - Bullying

The national spotlight is yet again shining down on Buffalo because of an awful tragedy, one that very well could have been prevented a long time ago. A 14 year old boy took his life this past weekend here in Buffalo and it has caused a lot of media to take notice to his cries for help, not just media but celebrities like Ellen and Lady Gaga. A 14 yr old who struggled with his sexuality, but was loved by so many. But it wasn't the love from friends and family he saw, it was the constant name calling and bullying that he saw. Even so now that he is gone, on is memorial pages on Facebook there are people posting inappropriate name calling. When will these kids stop? What are these parents doing that this kids are being allowed to do this? Is there no monitoring of kids computers anymore? This happened in a very well to do school district in the area. Kids from rich parents and very nice neighborhoods where crime is virtually nill.. matter of fact Amherst was ranked in the top ten safest cities in the country for many years in a row, yet this happens in that area? This really doesn't shock me, the kids in that school district were always mean, some of them at least, even when I was growing up and my High School sports teams would play theirs. They felt superior to everyone because their parents were very well off. But to constantly harass a kid that has been on the edge for so many years to finally jump off that edge, well that is totally unacceptable and I want some parents held accountable for the actions of their minor children.


It angers me that this has happened, yet at the same time it breaks my heart. I can't imagine losing a child, I can't imagine losing a child the way the Rodemeyer's have, yet they do not mourn their son they want to carry on his message that Bullying Needs To Stop. Today Lady Gaga is meeting with the President to discuss making Bullying a hate crime, it needs to be a hate crime, because up until now it has been protected under our Fourth Right Amendment of Freedom of Speech. This Amendment is what is protecting people who are Bullies, there needs to be an addendum added to this Amendment.

I sit here and think about all the other kids in this area that have committed suicide, maybe they made the local news maybe they didn't. They too were bullyied for being different - the way they looked, acted, dressed - bullying is all the same when it comes down to it. Why did these kids not make the national spot light? Perhaps it was Jamie who became the unfortunate martyr to bring the national spotlight for the sake of all these other kids who lived in his shoes? I guess it upsets a part of me that all the other kids in the area who were bullied into suicide were never mentioned, why weren't they mentioned? They too were crying out for help. Why is it this little 14 yr old boy is what finally gets the attention this subject finally deserves, again why must lives be sacrificed to have something brought to the forefront? Think about this for a second, soldiers sacrifice their lives protecting US so we can live a free life... it isn't until one of them dies in combat that their story comes to light. Why can't people's stories be brought to the front headlines while they are alive?

What is this country coming to? Our forefather's have to be rolling over in their graves seeing all of this going on. I come from a long line of Kennerly's that I have traced back to the mid 1500's. I had a lot of influential family in my tree, one of which was one of the founding Father's of the Republic of Texas (I will do a post on my family history at a later date, it's quite interesting). My passed Grandfather's, who built this country to what it had become have to literally be rolling over in their graves seeing all this hatred going on in this country. Hatred that seems to be getting larger and larger as time goes by. When did we, the American People, turn into bullys? What are these bullys parents like? They had to have learned it from someone else, to be this way or are these bullys also suffering from an issue and their only way to battle it is to act superior.

This topic strikes two chords with me.. 1. This is a local story bringing a lot of national attention down on this area and 2. I'm big into Twitter and a recent topic has been Twitter Bullys. When you belittle someone, talk down to them, call them names that is Bullying. Their friends refuse to see it and think "it's just funny behavior". It is not funny behavior. Any attempt to make yourself look like the superior one by talking down to someone to make them feel inferior is Bullying. PLEASE understand this. All those little groups people have created that do this, just remember you are performing a form of Bullying and it was this act that drove a 14 year old boy, who had it done to him, into killing himself. This should never have happened.... Bullying period should not be happening and it seems the age of the Internet has made it worse because people can post comments anonymously on blogs and pages, there is that Freedom of Speech again.

My point is this, Bullying needs to STOP - whether it be to a 14 yr old boy or a 34 yr old person on Twitter. It simply needs to stop and if someone wants to call me a Bully because I stand up for someone who is being Bullied, then so be it. I am like the Mother Hen, I am the protective one.. I always have been, because it was kids that called me names when I was growing up to ex boyfriend who slapped me around that formed me into who I am today. I made it through those rough spots and I'm no exception to the rule, I did at one point a very long time ago think about committing suicide, but I didn't... I didn't because I looked around and saw all those people who love me, saw horses that needed me, and a Mother who would be lost without me. I made it through... and went from the ugly picked on duckling to the beautiful strong willed swan.