Amanda Todd

Currently, Tucker has no idea that he’s behind his peers when it comes to speech and language development.  I hope that he never knows.  I pray that he’s caught up by the time it matters, when his classmates are old enough to tease and bully.  I never want him to feel stupid or simply less than his peers due to his speech delay.  With that said, I hope all parents reading this will take a moment tonight to speak to their children about teasing and bullying and explain what the difference is between amicable teasing and being plain old mean.  Find out if your children need help. Why am I writing about this?  Amanda Todd.

I know this is not my usual style of post, nor even close to my standard topic.  But I just can’t stop thinking about this story.  Amanda is but one of many teenagers who committed suicide after being bullied. When she was in 7^th grade, she flashed her boobs on a webcam.  Some guy then stalked her a year later and used that photo as his FB profile picture.  All the kids in her school found out about it.  In this video, she writes about how a girl “…threw me to the ground and punched me.  Kids filmed it.”  She went home and drank bleach.  She ended up changing schools.  Twice.  People from her old school continued to harass her, posting photos of bleach on her Facebook page and making comments like “she should try a different bleach” and “she deserved it.”  She writes “I left your guys city.”  At the time of this video, I read that her purpose was to be an inspiration and to show that she could be strong.  Oh, how I wish she maintained that strength.   Below is the video she posted.  It makes me cry for her and for every single person out there who feels alone.  Who, like Amanda, feels “I have nobody.  I need someone.”

Update:  I find it disgusting that teenage girls are going onto Amanda’s Facebook memorial pages and making comments such as “I hope they sell Clorox in hell.”  Amanda has grieving parents right now.  Show some respect.

Thanks for allowing me to rant off-topic.  Tomorrow I’ll be back on track with Tuckerville and The Middle World.  Or maybe I’ll just draw you another really stupid picture.  Cheers.