Pages

Sunday, September 15, 2013

12 Year-old Commits Suicide Because of Cyber Bullying



Look on the picture above and weep. 12 year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick, after being viciously targeted by cyberbullies for over a year, climbed over a high fence with barbed wire on top, then made her way to the top of a platform at an abandoned cement plant and jumped to her death.

Twelve years old.

It’s easy to want to blame somebody but that won’t bring Rebecca back, or change anything for the next child who gets victimized. Is being victimized right now and contemplating suicide because he or she doesn’t know where to turn, doesn’t believe there’s any safe haven. Can’t really talk to their parents, doesn’t get any support from school. Can’t say anything to friends for fear of being laughed at. Or doesn’t have any friends.

It’s hard enough for adults to understand that when somebody trashes you it’s not a reflection of you; it doesn’t say anything about you at all but it does say a whole lot about them, and none of it is pretty. If adults can’t get their head around that, how on earth can children?

They can’t and they don’t. Rebecca’s mother did everything she could. She knew about the bullying, she was very concerned about it, she closed down Rebecca’s Facebook account, complained to the school where Rebecca was being real-world bullied as well, took away her cellphone for a while.
The school promised to give Rebecca an escort between classes but they never came through. 
Rebecca’s mother moved her to another school. For a while it seemed to work. Relieved from the bullying, she became happier, more relaxed, more like her old self before the bullying started.

But the bullying started again. The day before she killed herself she told her mother she wanted to hurt herself really badly. The next day she changed her ID on a cyber app to That Dead Girl and left her mobile and her books at home. Instead of going to school she went to that abandoned cement plant. Climbed the platform and jumped. And found peace that nobody could take away from her.

Rest in peace, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, beautiful child.