Saturday, November 10, 2012

Who Was Amanda Todd?

Amanda Todd was a beautiful 15 year old girl who should have had her whole life in front of her, but because of some cruel bullies, she no longer does.  On October 10 she took her own life, because the pain she was forced to endure became way to much for her to handle.  She felt completely alone, alienated, and unwanted by her peers.  She made mistakes just like you and I do, but it should not have cost her her life to make up for a few mistakes.

Like every other teenage girl, she enjoyed talking to people and meeting new people via web cam.  And when she was dared to show her boobs she thought hey why not?  So she harmlessly flashed her boobs to a man who took advantage of her innocence and exploited her  in an such a way, all  for nothing more than to humiliate her, and degrade her.  And when she would not comply with his command to give him a show, he began with the blackmail threats.  She ignored them.  He told her he knew all her family and friends and he knew all their names.  She continued to ignore them.  Then early one morning at 4 am, there was a knock at her door, it was the police.  The picture of her boobs were  everywhere. 

Embarrassed and maybe even a little ashamed, she wound up depressed, and anxious.  Her peers decided to take it upon themselves to judge her, calling her a slut I am sure, talking a bunch of nonsense about her, harassing her, tormenting her, emotionally destroying her.  Hey they had every right to, -  in their minds, because each one of them was perfect and led the perfect lives, and were given special permission from the man above, to do so… Yeah right, in their wildest dreams.  There was not a one of them that was perfect in any way.  Obviously they had nothing better to do with their time effort or energy, then to relentlessly torment a fellow classmate.

Amanda  decided to change schools, to rid of herself, of all the pain and bullying she faced each and every day.  Everything was ok for a little while, that is on the outside, but on the inside she was slowly dying .  Some how the person who posted her picture managed to find out her new school, her new list of friends, and even created a Facebook page to further humiliate her.  Then all the torment and bullying started all over again.  It was sometime during that time she started talking to a guy she used to know.  They texted back and forth for a while, the whole time he was leaving her with the impression that he really liked her, but he did,  have a girlfriend.  So when he invited her over to his house one day saying his girlfriend was on vacation, she hesitantly went.  She thought her really did like her.  Turns out all he wanted was sex, he didn't care less about her.

Then one day at school she got a text that she needed to come out of her school. A group of boys and girls had accumulated and  in the crowd was the boy she thought had liked her.  The group of kids started talking a bunch of crap to her, threatening and intimidating her, until someone from the crowd yelled “hit her already”  And so she was punched a few times and knocked to the ground, where she was left to crawl away to the safety of a near by ditch where her father later found her.

I believe it was here where she lost all hope and reason to live.  She felt completely alone, she saw no light at the end of the tunnel, she saw no relief from the pain and misery that followed her everywhere she went.  She had a few failed suicide attempts which only made the bullying worse.  The bullies  said things about her on Facebook, and then posted “I hope she sees this and kills herself.” 

How in the hell can anyone be so cruel to another human being.  Did the parents of the kids who were tormenting her not teach their children any better.  And how could they not have known what was going on?   Yes I know you cannot be with your child 24/7,  a lot of parents are both working parents just to keep a roof over their families heads.  But come on, pay a little bit of attention….  Obviously a lot of time and effort went into tormenting this young girl, didn’t  the bullies have to extra curricular activities no part time jobs no lives of their own to lead.  And still no one notices a thing.  Wow that’s some good parenting there…

Anyway my heart is breaking here for yet another senseless death. A death  that could have been prevented had we as a society had not failed her.  Some how everyone turned a blind eye to what was going on here, and others were just in plain denial and  the truth of the matter is there is a 15 year old girl who will never know what it is like to fall in love, to live life to the fullest, or ever have a family of her own.  And that is ridiculous and it is a shame.  And something has got to change somewhere…

We as a society need to pull our heads out of the sand, maybe it is time for some tough love.  Parents  have got to establish some boundaries with our children from the get go.  If your child is a bully, it is your responsibility to find out the root of the problem here and work on it.  Get your child some counseling, talk with your child, do something.  And if your child is the one being bullied, then remove your child from the situation, if the case is as extreme as this one and others have been, remove them from the situation by all means possible.  And if the schools see a pattern of bullying going on while the kids are at  school then do something about it, stop taking this bullying situation so damn lightly.  If one adult threatens another adult that is a crime and criminal charges can be brought up the one threatening and or intimidating.  So why should it not be like that in the school system?  

I am not sorry if I have offended anyone here, I merely said what needed to be said.  At the least Amanda’s death does not have to be in vain.  Maybe with more education and less tolerance this kind of thing can be put to an end.  And I realize that this is not a perfect world and it wont end completely.  But maybe if one less child dies through suicide due to excessive bullying, something for the good will have been accomplished.

Amanda Todd, I am sorry.  I am sorry that as a community we failed you.  I am sorry you felt alone and that you had no one, and if I could turn back the hands of time and bring you back I would. But since I cannot do that, I will do what I can to make sure no one forgets you, or what you went through or why.  To your family I send my deepest condolences, and I pray they find peace and understanding and acceptance.  May God be with us all…

 

No comments: