If you are in BC you heard the news. If you watch television you saw the reports. It never ceases to hurt my heart when I hear such a horrible tragedy has taken place and so close to home. I’m talking about a young girl named Amanda Todd.
Who is Amanda Todd?
Amanda was a young woman who had her whole life ahead of her and committed suicide in order to escape the horrific bullying she endured during several years after she admitted to showing certain body parts online.
- Amanda was 15 years old.
- She lived in Coquitlam, British Columbia not far from where my family and I live.
- She was young and beautiful and heart-broken.
We all make mistakes in life when we are young. We try our hardest to prepare our kids to deal with the harsh realities life brings, such as gangs, drugs, alcohol and dealing with peer pressure. We even talk to our kids about being bullied and bullying both in and out of school. But never in a million years did I think as a parent it would come to such torture in dealing with (cyber) online bullying to this magnitude.
Amanda was only in 7th grade when she entered the online world. She made the mistake of flashing (her boobs) online and some guy took a picture of it. A few years later the tormenting began. That picture went viral. And as a mom who blogs and shares information not only about my family but my kids as well. I cannot even imagine the level this piece of $hite person had to sink to do such horrible things to this girl, stalking her, following her, putting up a facebook page about her and basically focusing his attention on that one thing she did to make her life a living hell.
And for Amanda life was hell.
She felt alone.
She felt trapped.
She felt as if she didn’t matter.
Here is What Others Think About What Happened to Amanda
Our Response
Bullying Must Stop!
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The video of her with her signs made me cry. Bullying is one of the things I’m most terrified of for my son with speech and language delays. It’s horrible how many young people are affected by bullying – it destroys their sense of self. RIP Amanda. I pray for your parents and family.
Kristi Campbell recently posted..Crayola Killing
This is so sad. What a heart-breaking story. I only hope more people stand up to bullying as you have. You’re so right: Bullying must stop!
Diana recently posted..The Beauty of Fall
Bullying may not be illegal at this point but child sexual exploitation is. Amanda was only 13 years old, a child when she was lured online to expose herself. That is a criminal action and those responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Those are the same predators that lure our children into human trafficking. Why was she not identified as a victim? Why should she have had to carry shame and be attacked again and again for that? The thing is this goes so much farther than just bullying.
Jen, I totally agree and hope they go after the awful people who started this. And the kids at school, too, who continued to torment Amanda after she moved away. Simply awful. :(
Kristi Campbell recently posted..Crayola Killing