a right delayed is a right denied

Bullying. It Has to Stop.

You ever hear a news story and your first reaction is pain?

Just legitimate physical pain consuming you.

I feel it. I feel it every time I hear some story about a child dying by the means of suicide.

It’s mostly the reason that lead them to the point of suicide.

Bullying.

This is a new time. Kids used to be able to be teased a little bit and that’d be it. Now kids are practically being hazed across the nation. They’re being attacked at school and at home now because of the evolution of technology and the critical role it’s played with this generation.

“It’s just kids being kids.”

No it’s not. There’s a difference between getting called four eyes and being told your life is worthless and that you’d be doing the world a favor by not being alive. That’s abuse. That’s the worse kind of abuse in my opinion. Because that’s psychological pain. That’s the kind of pain that can be hidden and can remain for a lengthy amount of time. That’s the kind of things that lead to depression. When I used to hear the word depression I used to think of some old person who’s been fired from their job or a person who’s lost a loved one. To hear of a child as young as 12 going through this level of pain is unreal and incredibly painful for me to hear.

How do they get to this? How does no one see a child getting harassed and attacked that much? How does it get to the point that no one notices a child is in that kind of pain?

The recent stories of suicides are heartbreaking. They’re heartbreaking because they have one topic that they all share in common: The LGBT community.

Now I can understand people saying they’re against homosexuality because it’s a sin in the bible. Really. I can understand that. But the truth is, it’s not up to us to judge anyone. That right belongs only to God. None of us are righteous enough to be in the position to judge another human being. People using the bible as a means to be discriminatory against whoever they choose are wrong. To harass and abuse someone because they are different is wrong. The end.

These children were harassed and physically bullied by their peers daily. Only two out of the nine teens that committed suicide in the month of September were legal adults. Nine lives that ended because of being bullied or harassed at school and on online. Most of these kids were being called “fag”, “faggot” “sissy”, “worthless fag”, and “gay fag”. These kids were engrained with the thought that if they were different, that if they were homosexual, their lives were meaningless. When you’re 13 or 14 years old, you’re just coming out of your childhood. You get the title of a young adult because you’re supposed to be finding yourself and getting to know who you are as a person. To be given the idea that early, that whatever or whoever you are is worthless? Is unimaginable. What’s even worse is that they’re being harassed for who they are. And what they are is different.

So who do we blame? The kids? The school? The parents? Who’s at fault for allowing these kids to harass their peers? Who turned a blind eye and just dwindled this down to “kids will be kids”?

Here’s the answer. It doesn’t matter who’s at fault. Pointing fingers and blaming someone is only going to waste time. What matters is that we as a nation and as people need to step up and change the way that children are treating each other.

As a person who went through depression during high school, I know how these kids feel. There’s a sense of hopelessness. There’s a feeling of not being good enough, important enough. They blame themselves for who they are and in their minds all they can see is that if they are worthless and if they are ruining someone else’s life by existing, the only way to solve that, is to end their own life.

I’m tired of hearing about these children thinking that by being gay their life is obviously worthless. That they are worthless. it hurts me to think that these children feel as though it’s never going to get better. It hurts me that these kids are being judged by being who they are. Gay or straight, these are children still growing up. These are still children learning who they are. I’m tired of them “learning” that they’re lives are worth anything because of who they are.

I will be an advocate for LGBT youth for the rest of my life.

I want them to understand that they’re beautiful. I want them to understand that no matter what anyone has to say they’re loved. They are loved if not just by me, but by their creator. He created each and every one us. He loves each and every one of us. I think that every one has a purpose. One of my favorite verses is

So do not fear, for I am with you;
       do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
       I will strengthen you and help you;
       I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

I wish these kids had gotten to the point to know what their purpose is. Maybe their purpose, a tragic as it sounds, was to raise awareness on the problem that’s in our schools right now. Maybe God’s purpose for them was to spread the message that the way people are spreading hatred all the way down to children, is having a major affect on our nation. Who knows.

All I can hope is that every single person who read about these teens dying, looks at things differently now when it comes to bullying or harassment. I hope that if any youth who are in the situation of being depressed or having suicidal thoughts will read this and realize that their life is beautiful and that it gets better. And if this post doesn’t help I want them to call