Zeman Elementary Tells Bullied Students To 'Suck it up.'

In this day and age, with so many students at our schools being bullied, sometimes to the point of death, one school as taken a new approach to the problem: Suck it up.

At Zeman Elementary School in Nebraska a flier was sent out to all parents with suggestions for their children should they become the victims of bullying.

Rule No. 1: “Refuse to get mad. Anger is a feeling we have toward our enemies, not our buddies. When you get angry, you are treating them like they are an enemy. Besides, if a bully finds out he/she can get you angry, you become their puppet, and the bully controls you.”

Rule No. 2: “Treat the person who is being mean as if they are trying to help you.  No matter how insulting or mean they may sound, be grateful and think they really care about you. (This does not mean you have to believe what they tell you.)

Rule No. 3: “Do not be afraid. Fear is something we feel toward enemies, not buddies. When you are afraid, you are treating the bully like an enemy. If you are afraid, you are automatically putting the bully in the stronger position, and you automatically lose, and since the bully wants to keep winning, they will continue to do things to make you feel afraid.”

Rule No. 4: “Do not verbally defend yourself. We defend ourselves from enemies, so we are treating the other person like an enemy, not a friend. When one person attacks and the other person is the defender, the attacker is in the stronger position, so the defender is automatically the loser. If we defend, we lose.”

Rule No.5: “Do not attack. We attack enemies, not friends. If I attack you back I am treating you like an enemy, so the bully, in return, will treat you like an enemy. It takes two people to fight, so it’s the person who retaliates or responds, who actually starts the fight.”

Rule No. 6: “If someone physically hurts you, just show you are hurt; do not get angry. If someone hurts you, you want them to feel sorry and apologize. If you get angry, they won’t feel sorry.”

Rule No. 7: “Do not tell on bullies. The number one reason bullies hate their victims is because the victims tell on them. Tell an adult only when a real injury or crime (theft of something valuable has occurred. Would we keep our friends if we tattled on them?”

Rule No. 8: “Don’t be a sore loser. No one likes a sore loser. Would you like to play with someone who gets upset when they lose? Lose gracefully, and be a good sport. Kids will like you better.” 

Rule No. 9: “Learn to laugh at yourself and not get ‘hooked’ by put-downs. Make a joke out of it, or agree with the put-down. For example: ‘If you think I’m ugly you should see my sister.’ ‘You’re right and it’s going to get worse.’ ‘I’ve know [sic] that for a long time.’ ‘Thanks for noticing.’ ‘If you think I look like a nerd you should see my dad.’

Seriously? Just take the bullying because otherwise you’re a tattler and a loser?

Seriously? Keep silent about the bully unless you get physically hurt?

Seriously? Join in with the bully and make fun of yourself?

Seriously? You victimize the victim? You tell them that if they are hit and retaliate that they are the instigators?

Seriously.

This letter did not go home to all Zeman Elementary School students; it only went to the homes of some fifth-graders but the parents were never-the-less stunned by it and began calling the school.

And they were told that the list was real and was legitimately sent out by Zeman Elementary. So a lot of parents began calling the district offices where they were told that the district knew nothing about this ridiculous list.

And naturally the district has since issued an apology, explaining in a public statement on its Facebook page that the flier contained “inaccurate information”:

“The flier was sent home with good intentions, unfortunately, it contained advice that did not accurately reflect LPS [Lincoln Public Schools] best practices regarding response to bullying incidents.”

The school has now created a new flier, which is posted on its website, concluding, “Asking for help is not ratting!” and sent out its own apology:

Dear Zeman Families,

I would like to follow up and tell you what happened at school with our fifth grade students today as a result of a bullying flyer that was sent home on Tuesday.  You may have heard from the school, other parents, or various media sources about this incident.  The flyer is not an LPS publication and conveyed a message that is inconsistent with our district bullying policy.

This morning, educators and I met with all Zeman fifth graders to clarify and provide accurate information about the expectations we have of students at Lincoln Public Schools and at Zeman regarding bullying situations.  A few examples follow:

• Tell your child that bullying is wrong and unsafe and that adults need to know if bullying is occurring.
• Teach your child ways to “talk it out” not “fight it out.”
• Teach your child to take action when they see others being bullied.
• Contact a school staff member for assistance when faced with a bullying situation.

This is the same message we have given to all Zeman students in the past and will continue to do so in the future.  We take bullying seriously and have worked to educate children about appropriate responses in a variety of ways.

Again, we apologize for the miscommunication and anxiety this caused for our fifth grade families. For valuable information you can check the link on our webpage where you will find “The Facts About Bullying”.

If you have further concerns please call me at 402-436-1169.

Sincerely,

Donna Williams

Seriously, what kind of person sat down to write that list and thought it appropriate? And what kind of administrator proofed it and then approved it for release?

Kids, all ages, are being bullied to the point of attempting suicide, or actually committing suicide, and someone at Zeman Elementary thought it best to victimize the victims.

Nicely done. Asshats.

sources:

ABC News

Aksarbent

Zeman Elementary Scool

North Carolina Boy Attempts Suicide Over Bullying and Tattoo Parlor Steps Up To Help

Michael Morones is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in North Carolina. He’s also something called a ‘Brony;’ a fan boy of “My Little Pony,” a line of plastic toys that began in 1983, and morphed into TV specials, an animated feature length film, and four animated television series.

But I guess being a boy and loving “My Little Pony” makes you a target of bullies, and after a lot of teasing and taunting and harassment and, after enduring that for about as long as he could, Michael Morones hung himself from his bunkbed.

"Mum, I'm tired of people being mean to me, I'm tired of people calling me gay, I'm tired of people telling me I'm ugly, that I'm stupid." — Michael Morones

Michael didn’t die, however, but he has been hospitalized since the incident, and doctors say he may have permanent brain damage and needs a tube in his throat as a result of his attempted suicide; for loving a cartoon pony.

"We won't know for months how much is going to heal. It could even be years before we find out what potential for healing he has." — Tiffany Morones-Suttle, Michael’s mother

The Morones’ family has been receiving support from well-wishers, including donations from around the world, hoping to help with the hospital bills, but, as usual, several anonymous hate-filled people have decided to co-opt a website created for Michael and post their negativity for all to see. Still, the website has raised some $70,000 as of last week.

"I've heard a lot of people say you need to go after bullies and hold them responsible. But you know, I don't think that's what Mike would want. I would rather teach people how to do right than turn around than punish, because punishment doesn't always work." — Tiffany Morones-Suttle

And support for Michael Morones, and for Bronys, is also coming from kind of an odd source; a place I’d almost never expect to react this way …

Down in Texas, Imperial Tattoo in Sugar Land tattoo artist is offering discount "My Little Pony" tattoos for just $20 to raise money for Michael; store owner Tony Wayne says they have been overwhelmed by the response.

"We've done 25-30 of them since last week and more are booked this week. They're regular guys, tattooed mean lookin' guys." — Tony Wayne

Wayne says as soon as he saw Michael Morones' story, he knew he had to help. He says tattoos are about “freedom of expression” and understands that Michael, and all little boys — and grown men, too, I’ve been told — who love “My Little Pony” are just expressing themselves.

Christy Van Kannon got a blue My Little Pony with a red mohawk on the inside of her left arm; she did it because one of her 12 year old daughter's school friends also committed suicide because of bullying.

"I have three kids. For me this was an incredible opportunity to show people how important it is to stop bullying, We have to stand up for others that can’t stand up for themselves" — Christy Van Kannon

Wayne said the money from his store's tattoos will go in part to Michael’s recovery fund and also to the anti-bullying group Stomp out Bullying.

"I didn't even realize this was going on, but things should not be gender specific. I'm getting (a My Little Pony Tattoo) myself now. You don't have to be a girl to like My Little Pony." — Tony Wayne

And you shouldn’t be bullied almost to death for it either.

Boy attempts suicide over ‘My Little Pony’ bullying 

Boy inspires 'mean lookin' guys to flock to Sugar Land for My Little Pony tattoos

Teacher Bullies Student To The Point Of Attempting Suicide

I still remember being bullied in school—yes, all these years later—because I was assumed to be gay. I was called ‘fag’ in the hallways of my high school and dubbed a ‘queer’ because I couldn’t climb the rope in gym class.

Who knew climbing a rope made you straight?

I also remember junior high school when one other student mercilessly taunted me by calling me ‘fag’ every single time he saw me. One day, after, of all things, gym, I was in the locker-room changing clothes and this student came up to me again and shoved his face real close to mine and asked if I was gay.

I stammered and stuttered, trying to figure out in those few seconds what the right answer would be; the right answer might keep him from punching me in the face, I’d assumed. I finally muttered, ‘No.’ Then the oddest thing happened; this student kissed me, full on the mouth and then walked away.

The bad news? It was a pretty awful kiss for my first male/male experience. The good news? He never, ever, called me a fag again; in fact, he never spoke to me again at all.

But it was torture, waiting for those names to be uttered at you, and it made going to school so painful that I often wondered how I could stop going. I never contemplated suicide—other than as  a passing thought followed quickly by, How would that solve anything—but I did lie awake at night and pray I could get through the next day, and the days after that.

So, remembering how tortured I felt, I cringed as I read the story of an unnamed student at West Ashley High School, in the Charleston County School District of South Carolina, who was bullied so badly that he attempted suicide. The difference between his story and mine is he was allegedly bullied by his teacher. And now his mother has filed suit against the school and the district.

The cases alleges that Alan Ingram, who is not named as a defendant though he’s named  throughout the complaint,  that male student—referred to as John Doe in court papers—by repeatedly telling the class that the student was gay:

"In early April 2013, Ingram began bullying plaintiff in class, in front of plaintiff's classmates, by telling plaintiff's classmates that plaintiff was 'gay,' and by calling plaintiff names and belittling him in the presence of his classmates. This continued on a daily basis for an extended period of time …

"During this time, Ingram repeatedly belittled plaintiff in front of his peers, calling plaintiff names in class such as 'Gay,' 'Gay Boy,' 'Mrs. Pete,' 'Mrs. Peters,' and other names. Ingram repeatedly told plaintiff's classmates that plaintiff was in a homosexual relationship with another male classmate and that they were 'boyfriend and girlfriend' …

"Further, Ingram encouraged and asked other students in class to pick on plaintiff as well and similarly belittle him during classes."

Awful; a grown man treating a young boy, not to mention a student he was supposed to be teaching, like that, but the teacher reportedly also told the boy’s classmates that the student was in a homosexual relationship with another classmate, and he encouraged those students to pick on John Doe as well.

The boy’s mother says that because it was a teacher who started bullying her son, he felt as though he could not report the bullying to school administration. The student later attempted suicide by hanging himself. Luckily, he was found in time, but the emotional damage has been done. He has withdrawn from school and is being home-schooled. He is also receiving mental health counseling.

As I said, it was torture enduring those days in school, but I cannot imagine the pain of having a teacher, someone you are told you can trust, someone you are told you can go to if you need help, being the one who starts the bullying and asks others to join in.

If it’s true that Alan Ingram did these things, it’s pretty frightening to note that he is still teaching at West Ashley High School.

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Joe Bell Is Taking A Walk In Memory Of His Son

Jadin Bell, an Oregon teenager, was another one of those kids, targeted for being gay or perhaps just seeming to be gay—whatever that means—until he got to a point where he could no longer take it. One day, he went to the playground at an elementary school, climbed to the top of a jungle gym, and hanged himself. A passerby saw his body and tried rescuing him; Jadin was taken to Doernbecher Children's Hospital where he was put on life support. After several days, and still no brain activity, his family decided to let him go. [See post HERE]

Another one.

Shortly afterwards Jadin’s father, Joe Bell, made a decision. He could have been angry, he could have been distraught, he could have been a lot of things, but he decided, after burying his young son, that he would just go for a walk.

And Joe Bell is walking all across the United States to help spread the message against bullying. He says it'll take two years to walk the 5,000 miles—at a rate of 15-25 miles a day—and make it to the East Coast; Joe Bell resigned from his job to take that walk, and he’ll be doing it on two artificial knees; he had replacement surgery in 2010.

"I needed a break. I was ready, I was looking for something different. I just wish, however, that I was doing this under different circumstances."—Joe Bell

And as he walks from one coast to the other, he’ll stop to speak at schools and other venues about bullying, about the need to report it if it happens to you, or if you see it happening to anyone. He has even set up a foundation, Faces for Change [HERE] to promote anti-bullying programs.

See, Joe Bell understands that we don’t need another suicide, like that of  Jadin Bell, or Lance Lundsten, Tiffani Maxwell, Eric James Borges, Teddy Molina, Jamey Rodemeyer, Josh Pacheco,  David Hernandez Barros, Brandon Elizares, Joel Morales, Zachery Gray, Jay 'Corey' Jones, Jack Reese, Kenneth Weishuhn, Rafael Morelos, Phillip Parker, Jacob Rogers, Nicholas Kelo Jr., Brandon Bitner, Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Billy Lucas, Phoebe Price, Jaheem Herrera, Jeremiah Lasater, Megan Meier, Eric Mohat, Carl Joseph Walker Hoover …. Those are just the ones I’ve talked about on this blog, but there are so many, many more.

Joe’s walk will take him through Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, before he moves north through Pennsylvania, New York and his destination of the Delaware coastline. He’s most looking forward to the New York stop because that was where Jadin wanted to live one day.

If, by chance, Joe Bell walks through your town, why not go out and meet him, and thank him for not only honoring his son’s memory, but for getting up and doing something about bullying. And, if he doesn’t pass your way, why not stop in at Faces forChange and see what you can do to help.

Before we have “Another One”.

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Another One: Jadin Bell

Jadin Bell, an Oregon teenager, was another one of those kids, targeted for being gay, or perhaps just seeming to be gay—whatever that means—until he got to a point where he could no longer take it. So he went to the playground of Central Elementary School in La Grande, climbed to the top of a play structure, and hanged himself.

A passerby saw his body and tried rescuing him; Jadin was taken to Portland and Doernbecher Children's Hospital where he was put on life support. Over the weekend, doctors detected little brain activity and the family decided to take him off life support.

"If someone was down and out he would walk into a room and say a couple quick words and everybody would just forget about their problems and smile. He just had a gift…. He was different, and they tend to pick on the different ones."--Bud Hill, family friend.

Why is ‘different’ so bad, and what is ‘different’? If only these kids could survive these harsh years they would come to realize that it’s the ‘different’ kids who grow up to be something special, who grow up understanding different and what it means to be different.

Hill says Jadin asked his parents to home school him because he was afraid the bullying—online and in person—was just going to get worse, but ultimately, he decided he might be able to withstand it.

 The school district says it was in the process of investigating when Jadin tried to end his life, but how long does it take? If the bullying is online, there is evidence of it; if the bullying is personal there had to have been witnesses. Those bullies should be taken, arrested and prosecuted for causing the death of Jadin Bell; for causing the deaths of so many….

Some 200 people, including family members and classmates, turned out at a candlelight vigil for Jadin, where he was remembered as an outgoing member of the La Grande High School cheerleading squad and a gentle, caring friend. But, again, not one of those people saw anything? Not one of those people came forward and gave the names of the bullies? If we don’t remove the bullies and the bullying from schools, all we’ll be taking out of schools will be kids in body bags.

"He is amazingly sensitive. If he saw a wounded butterfly [as a child] he wanted to heal it ... He is an amazing young man who is smart and very social; he has a persona and a presence that you want to be a part of."—his friend, Jody Bullock.

And now he’s gone, because he was ‘different’. How long do we let this go on? How long before we decide to prosecute the bullies for literally taunting someone to death? This isn’t child’s play, nor is it kids being kids. This is berating, pushing, shoving, name-calling, harassing, online torture, kicking, spitting on young kids because they don’t fit into what some delusional bully with too much time on his hands finds ‘normal.’

To me, Jadin Bell was the normal one, and those kids who bullied him online and in person are the ones who aren’t normal. They’re the problem and we need to start dealing with the problem.

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Another One: Zachery Gray .... And Another One ....

Zachery Gray was 18-years-old when he tried to kill himself as a result of being bullied; well, as a result of being called "fag" and "Gay Zach" and "queer" on a daily basis, even though he was straight and had a girlfriend.

After enduring yet another day of constant bullying, Zach, who’d been suspended for pulling a prank on a teacher, headed home. That afternoon, he tried to hang himself with a dog chain in a shed behind his home, but neighbors, his mother and paramedics were able to save him.

Zach was set to graduate from Zephyrhills High School this year but now suffers from brain damage and requires 24-hour care at a local medical center. He can no longer walk or talk.

And now his family is speaking out, saying the school did not do enough to stop the incessant bullying of Zach. Under Florida law, school officials must report bullying incidents and "develop plans for ending harassing behavior," but now, citing privacy concerns, the school is refusing to comment. In fact, Zach’s father says school officials won’t even return their phone calls.

A young boy tried to kill himself and the officials cannot pick up a phone. But, oh, it gets worse.

It seems that Zachery Gray complained of the teasing and the taunts; students had been making fun—and we really shouldn’t call it ‘making fun’ anymore--of his weight and sexuality, by  calling him "heavy" and "Zach Gay" during a field trip. And Zach did what he was supposed to do; he complained to the teacher on that field trip, Brenda Carlson,

Carlson told investigators that she asked Zach: "If someone calls you a tree, are you a tree? And if someone calls you gay, does that make you gay?"

And that’s all she did. She didn’t report the incident and didn’t even bother to speak to the students who were taunting Zach. In fact, after Gray’s suicide attempt, she told investigators "she did not have any concerns that Zach was being bullied." 

Even.Though.He.Told.Her.

Brenda Carlson no longer works for the district. Which is a little convenient.

"Her job was to come to me, tell me, go to the principal, go to authorities," said Lynn Gray. "She did nothing."

And now a boy cannot walk or talk.

And then.....

In Detroit, a 14-year-old girl peered through the keyhole of a locked door and found her brother hanging from a bunk bed with a belt around his neck.

She screamed for her mother and called 911. Her mother and a neighbor broke through the door of the boy's room, took him down and called 911, but it was too late.

He was seven.

His mother said her son, whose name is not being released, had been depressed about being bullied by other kids at school and in his neighborhood, and about his parents' recent separation.

Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. said he was told the boy had expressed a desire to harm himself, and the mother told him that her son was being counseled by the family's pastor to help him cope.

The boy's family does not want to comment.

A seven-year-old is dead.

The two cases are as different as they are the same.

One young man told officials he was being bullied and they did nothing to stop it.

One young boy talked to his pastor and tried to work though his parent’s separation and the fact that he was bullied.

But the bullies were never confronted and so the bullying never stopped.

Until Zach Gray tried to kill himself and a young boy in Detroit tied a belt around his neck.

When are people, and by people, I mean the parents of the bullied, the parents of the bullies, teachers, school officials, politicians, going to realize that this is a problem and do something about it.

How many more kids have to die, or permanently scar themselves for life, before someone says ‘Enough.’

Zach’s school district needs to accept responsibility. Brenda Carlson needs to stop teaching and accept her role in this. I wonder, if she’d said anything to anyone might the bullying have stopped, and might Zach be graduating in June instead of lying in a hospital bed?

I wonder….

Zachery Gray

A Seven-Year-Old Boy

Random Musings

So, we'll start off with some good news.

Last month we saw yet another case of an LGBTQ youth attempting suicide as a result of bullying when Austin Rodriguez tried to kill himself, but ended up, instead, in a coma. [original post HERE]

Now, Austin is off the ventilator; he's out of the coma. He's been awake for nearly a week. And he's been moved from the ICU and is in a private room in the hospital.

Austin took to Facebook, via his mother's account, to let people know he's doing better:

Hopefully this is a wake up call for Austin; for him to realize that suicide isn't an answer. And hopefully this will be a wake up call to parents and schools that bullying needs to stop.

Now.

Tony Perkins, Flying Monkey In Chief for the inappropriately named American Family Association, actually believe that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell brought about the Secret Service Hooker Scandal.

That's quite a jump. Allowing gay men and women to serve openly in our military is the root cause of a bunch of Secret Service agents hiring Colombian hookers.

That Tony Perkins is just about the biggest idiot EVER!

Say it isn't so!

Maggie Smith reportedly wants out of Downton Abbey after next season, wishing to return to movies and the stage: "Maggie has asked Julian to write her character out...She is filming until August and then wants to leave, going out on a high. She thinks that three (seasons) is enough and she wants to get back to the stage and big screen."

That means that, should there be a fourth season of Abbey, the Dowager Countess, a master of the potent one-line put-down, will be gone.

I.Am.Crushed.

Mitt Romney may appear on Saturday Night Live to, um, dispel the rumors that he's as dull as dishwater and stiff as a board. But, if he does it, Mittsy asks one thing of the SNL writers.

No, don't make him wear flip-flops isn't the right answer.

No, don't make fun of his millionaire stay-at-home-mom wife isn't it either.

Mittsy asks that the show be........Funny.

Because Mittsy knows comedy. I mean, look at his political career and aspirations.

High-larious.

And, speaking of Mittsy, we all know that his opinions are like buses: a new one will be along in five minutes. But while he is the Flip-flopper of the Romney household, Ann Romney has quickly become the delusional moron in charge.

First was the horrid struggle she endured by choosing to be a stay-at-any-number-of-homes mom, and now she's said this:

'Memba when people were all outraged that the Romney family strapped the family dog, Seamus, into an air-tight crate, and then put him on the roof of their car for a twelve hour road trip in 1983? And 'remeber how Seamus defecated all over himself and on the windshield, but also thoroughly enjoyed the experience?

Yeah, that';s Ann Romney';s newest spin.

“The dog loved it,” Ann Romney says, “He would see that crate and, you know, he would, like, go crazy because he was going with us on vacation."

Ann Romney cares as much about average stay-at-home mothers as she does about the family pet, and for her to suggest that the dog enjoyed being tied down to the roof of a car and forced to sh*t himself is reprehensible.

Of course, Mittsy took up the call, too, telling Diane Sawyer that he would do that again: "Certainly not with the attention it's received."

See, he wouldn't stop doing it  because it's inhumane to do such a thing, he'd stopped doing it because people noticed.

The Romneys. So fucking out of touch it's unbelievable.

Is Rush Limbaugh back on the Oxy?

Well, he's certainly sounding crazier than normal.

Limbaugh says that while using his iPhone with a voice-transcription feature that turns spoken words into printed text, a mysterious message suddenly showed up:

“Obama’s minions are taking over and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

That missive left the moron radio host just dumbfounded--emphasis on the dumb--as he noted, “I hadn’t said anything like that!”

But, true to form, Rush has no proof that his iPhone is sending him threats from Obama's Minions because, um, “I was so discombobulated by what happened that I didn’t save what showed up on my iPhone. I can’t prove this, because I didn’t keep the transcriptions. I deleted them. I don’t even know if I actually deleted them. I just didn’t send them. They are not on the phone. I went and looked.”

Discombobulated means totally off your effing rocker.

Jose Canseco. Baseball player. Steroid rager. Global warming expert.

He has been Tweeting about how global warming might have saved the Titanic.

Oh, but he has:

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Some new hotties crossing the screen these days.

Columbus Short, of ABC's Scandal

Henry Ian Cusick, also of Scandal and, of course, Lost

François Arnaud, of Showtime's The Borgias

Neal Bledsoe, the hot gay Republican on Smash

Christian Cooke, from Starz' Magic City

Another One: Austin Rodriguez Is In A Coma

Up in Ohio, 15-year-old Austin Rodriguez, an openly gay student at Wellsville High School is on a ventilator with lung complications after attempting to take his own life. His mother says he tried to kill himself after being bullied at school.
Bonnie Rodriguez says Austin was really lethargic last Friday evening, and when she asked him what was wrong, he collapsed. She immediately took him to a local hospital and on Saturday morning he was flown by medical helicopter to the main campus of Akron Children's Hospital. It was there she discovered that Austin had taken more than 100 of his own prescription pills. 
Austin told his family he was gay about eight months ago, after coming out, first, to his friends. And then he came out at school, where, once that happened, Austin, a straight-A student, began getting bullied.
Bonnie Rodriguez: "I actually didn't know how bad it was for him in school until he actually did this. And until friends came out of the woodwork saying we knew Austin was going through this, we thought he was handling it a lot better. We didn't know what to do."
From what  Bonnie Rodriguez learned, the bullying was cruel--enough to make an already shy teenager feel even more introverted--but it was also everywhere: "It was electronic, it was face to face bullying, they were hiding his gym clothes because they didn't want him changing in the locker room with them. They didn't want him to eat by them, or in the school lunchroom."
Now as this mother fights for her son and he fights to recover, she's determined to raise awareness about the impact of bullying and how it nearly cost her son his life. She prays that what happened to her son will spark open discussions on the issue of bullying in school, and warns parents that if you feel there's something going on with your child, trust those instincts and be aggressive in getting to the bottom of it. Doctors say the next few days will be critical for Austin and they're optimistic that he will recover.
This one hits home, for me, because of how Bonnie Rodriguez describes what happened to her son at school. See, I was that kid; the one who ate alone; the one who was tormented in the locker room and shoved in the halls and whispered about in class. The only difference is that when i was Austin's age, I wasn't openly gay and there wasn't a world of electronic media that could be exploited to taunt me.
But, and this sounds so trite, it gets better.
I made it through high school. I got out and went on with my life and found a world of people who don't bully others for their differences, but embrace the differences. I was able to forge a world of new friends who didn't see me as anything other than myself.
And I sincerely hope that Austin Rodriguez wakes up and gets that same chance.

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