I'm reccing this so that people who may not be on facebook can see that image.

I was bullied in school but it wasn't as bad as many children are now. I have a 7 year old who I want to protect from what I experienced when I was close to her age and sometimes I am so scared that I won't be able to protect her 100%. I wish people would wake up and realize that even the smallest act can harm a person. And I wish that people would open their eyes and help people who are bullied.

when i was in school, i came home crying all the time because of what went on.  i never got physically bullied, but i got a lot of words from a lot of people.  my parents, trying their best, decided to put me in soccer in order to give me something in common with the boys in my class.  that was pretty terrible:  it put me even closer to the situation in which my peers could see the multiple ways i didn't measure up.  additionally, that was when my grandma told me that my parents put me in soccer because "some men grow up liking women, and some men grow up liking other men, and your parents don't want you to grow up liking men."  it was the first time i'd ever considered that people actually might have thought i was gay, even though i got those taunts at school as well.  i'm twenty-six now, and sometimes i still wonder what else i could have done to get myself out of the situation i was in.

i grew up in a christian school, by the way, so what i learned from those years was that you can't trust people, not even christians, without keeping a part of yourself where others can't reach you.  i've spent a lot of time trying to heal from the messed up sense of christianity i had, the one in which you keep putting yourself in harm's way because you think it's what jesus meant when he said to "do good to those who hate you."   the years also gave me a more realistic view into how we are as people, and, when i have the opportunity, they've convinced me of how important it is for young people to have caring mentors to help them through it all.  i see the same patterns in christians today, and i'm a lot more vocal about stopping those patterns.  i have a sense of fight for the underdogs, because i know how little advocacy there often is for them.  i believe that advocacy is part of the christian message, and when i'm not overwhelmed by my own memories, i push for proactive solutions in the church.

i was bullied a lot at school for my parents being divorced, especially by all the really hardcore Christian kids.  

I was horrifically bullied in middle school. I won't go into much detail, because even as an adult now, I am still coping with the fallout of what I went through years ago. Kids are killing kids from being bullied, they are killing themselves. It's a tragic & terrible thing. I think the way to try to prevent it is awareness. Programs in & out of schools, teachers aware that bullying isn't so "harmless." Laws are being passed now & it's finally coming to light just how atrocious the emotional & mental scars are that you gain from being bullied. This is a serious thing & it deserves serious thought & prevention methods. Bullying kills & when it doesn't kill? It can still ruin lives. I live each day having to tell my ADULT self, I am worthy. I am beautiful no matter what. It's a daily struggle to look in the mirror a lot of the time - but I am working on it. I do my best now to help raise awareness for bullying victims. No one deserves it. NO ONE.

Throughout my life I've been bullied, at home and at school.  When I was younger, I was bullied (1st grade) by a boy.  He was African American and the only one in my grade at the time.  He would choke me.  Literally, I had bruises around my throat and black eyes from him punching me.  When I would start to run to the teacher he'd grab my hair and jerk me back and whisper in my ear, "You can't tell on me because it's racist.  If they get on to me, they'll be racist.  You can't do anything.  If you still tell you'll be a white racist bitch."  (A little kid told me this!)  I was terrified.  I went home crying all the time.  My mother went to the school and they said they couldn't (wouldn't) do anything because they didn't want to be sued and the teacher never saw it happening.  The little boy road the bus with me and sat behind me.  He had a small tiny pocket knife and he would crawl under the seats and slice my ankle.  Luckily, I had a nice bus driver who removed him from the bus, when he happened to look down at my sock and saw it bloody.  The boy also had an older brother who spanked him, when he finally got out of me what his brother was doing. 

The playground bullying didn't stop until one day I had enough and I punched him so hard that his nose broke.  I carried the title of ruthless until I graduated.  I didn't want to hurt anymore, especially when I came home to verbal abuse by my Grandmother. 

That little boy went on to have two separate counts of manslaughter before he graduated high school, one was his little brother and the other his best friend.  (Yes my school allowed him to walk the stage with us, even though it's against school policy. Because he yelled lawsuit.) I feel sorry for him though.  His family was not the nicest.  They are all cruel (except for the brother who tried to fill the role of parent) and they all have a criminal past.  I know he was abused growing up, which is why he tormented me at school, but I feared for my life at a small age.  The school did nothing to prevent it.  Even went as far as to say that kids will be kids.  :(

Bullying is wrong and horrible.  The damage it does is immeasurable.  Children are the cruelest.

i was bullied but thank god it never escalated to physical abuse because than i would have called the authorities (police). 

i think it just all comes down to respect and tolerance.  i dont understand why the american education system doesnt teach respect and tolerance (as a course).  not everybody needs math, science and economics when they get older but we do need to learn to respect and accept people for who they are, differences and all.  its a big world, once you get out of your bubble and you have to get out eventually. 

we live in a world where "freedom" is so stressed upon, its getting overrated.  so clouded we dont really know what it means anymore.  freedom of speech is NOT freedom to verbally abuse others.  theres consequences and karma.  what goes around eventually comes around.

Wow, I appreciate all the comments! I'm glad to have so many viewpoints on the matter. Its really sad for me to hear about bullying that was allowed in a Christian environment. I know its not easy to see the value of others (or often of ourselves) when the world keeps throwing ideas of what is 'normal' or 'acceptable' our way. The truth is our value as people rests in the sole fact that we were worth dying for. The Easter season is perfect timing to talk about this.

Even though we are ALL sinners and even though we ALL fall short of God's standards he still sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross FOR US!!! What great news! It is my prayer that I would see others around me for the true value they hold in the eyes of their Creator!

For those of you who addressed the matter of defending your children from bullying I have a question: what if your child WAS the bully? What are some ways that parents can raise children who see God's value in others?

I've been on both sides of the story (bullied and bully). The one girl I bullied in elementary school was a new girl who seemed so cool and I really just wanted her attention so that we could be friends so I'd often cut in line in front of her or just be a general annoyance (never anything physical). Could this sort of bullying be the result of not teaching kids how to communicate their thoughts and feelings to others appropriately?

Thanks again for all the feedback!

As I child I was bullied, I no longer want any memories of my childhood because of this.

I was bullied in 7th grade and part of 8th by a group of girls who were in my class. The entire experience was surreal, and affected my later relationships with people (until I was in my mid-twenties I didn't trust that anyone close to me really wanted to be friends with me, and that they were secretly making fun of me behind my back, and through my academic career I had a problem with turning in completed homework because I was afraid of it getting stolen) but I'd never really thought of committing suicide. In fact, I wound up becoming everyone else's protector after that experience, and it kind of eventually made me a better person, once I healed all those emotional scars.