Bullying, Struggling, Suicide: The Amanda Todd Story

 

On October 10, 2012 Amanda Michelle Todd tragically took her own life, after enduring months of physical, emotional, and psychological bullying and abuse from her peers at school, including the people she used to call her friends. This horrifying story began when Amanda was in 7^th grade. She, along with her friends, would go on Facebook as well as other social media websites, and use their webcams to chat and meet new people. By means of flattery and flirtation, Amanda was eventually persuaded to share a nude photograph of herself with a gentleman she has only met online. This particular gentleman was the beginning of the end of her life. Approximately a year later, Amanda was approached via the internet by a man claiming he knew who she was, where she went to school, who her family was, where she lived, etc... And that if she was unwilling to do a live performance for him, he would upload the nude photograph of her and send it public….. and that’s just what he did. After switching schools multiple times, and even moving to a new city, all to no avail, Amanda tragically took her own life!

This kind of behaviour is absolutely  unacceptable, what’s  worse is lack of intervention from the school administration, as well as the other people who knew this was happening and did nothing to stop it! Permitting this abusive and violent behaviour, especially when you have the obligation and ability to put an end to it, is both morally and ethically irresponsible. The burning question in this situation is “why?” How could we, as a society, have let this happen? This young lady needed the help and support of her friends and family but she was left feeling isolated, alone, and vulnerable. Meanwhile there were no preventative measures, and no consequences for the ruthless people who treated this poor girl with such injustice. The death rate of teenage suicides in our country is a rapidly climbing number! There was never a time when it was acceptable to be bystanders while someone in your community was is being subject to emotional and potentially even physical abuse from their peers and it certainly is not now!

If you, or anyone you know has been (or is being) bullied, please know that you are not alone. If you need someone to talk to, and feel as though there is no one in your personal life whom you can talk to right away about these issues, we encourage you to call the "Kids Help Phone Line" at  1-800-668-6868

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If you would like to get involved, or for more information about bullying, how to recognize it, and preventative measures to help stop bullying, please visit the "Kids Help" website.

-AS