Baseball phenom, 13, dies by suicide. He came home from school, left video: 'I hate my life'

[Jilly_in_VA]

On the afternoon of the worst day of Terry Badger II's life, the text message from his son never came. "Hey dad, I'm home. Going to do my homework. I'll see you here in a little bit."

Thirteen-year-old Terry Badger III sent those words, or some variation of them, every single afternoon to his dad at work, just like the morning messages Terry sent without fail that said, "I'm up. Getting ready for school. Love you."

His dad got the morning message from Terry on March 6. But not the afternoon one.

That was odd. Terry was home from school. His mom, Robyn, had dropped him off just after 3 p.m. then left for a quick run to the gas station. She had no reason to think she shouldn't leave Terry alone. There were no signs.

On the car ride home, Terry had acted like he always acted, smiling, happy, nothing out of the ordinary, Robyn said. He talked like he always talked, about his plans to get his homework done so he could go to the baseball field at 4:30 p.m. to practice batting with his dad and some friends.

But Terry wasn't really thinking about batting practice or homework on that car ride home, his parents later found out. He wasn't thinking about texting his dad after school. They found out when they watched the video Terry recorded just after 3 p.m. on March 6. Their son was in a very dark place.

Terry believed, in those moments, his life wasn't worth living.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/04/01/baseball-phenom-13-dies-by-suicide-his-parents-say-he-was-bullied/11570363002/

Schools are NOT preventing bullying. Period. If my child were one of the bullies in this case, I would march him through the visitation line by the collar and make him personally apologize to the parents--on his KNEES. For starters.

[barbtries]

2. a permanent solution

to a temporary problem. it is beyond sad.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. That Was Hard To Read

13 years old! Geez.

[Samrob]

66. Damn hard but I read it anyway through tears. He looks like a kid with a sweet soul. Damn it!

The names he named should be posted all over the community and labeled "murdering bullies." This make me heart sick. I feel so sorry for his parents, especially his mom who found him.

[ProfessorGAC]

68. Thought The Same

Really sad.

[ZonkerHarris]

4. I know I am not a good person cause if I had a list of the kids that bullied my son to suicide

that entire town would be mourning a lot of kids.

[LymphocyteLover]

19. Bullies are usually bullied by their parents

Last edited Sat Apr 1, 2023, 05:30 PM - Edit history (1)

[The Jungle 1]

32. That is bull shit!

[LymphocyteLover]

54. Yes, I typed the wrong thing!

Fixed it

[The Jungle 1]

40. I am going to guess you meant to say...

Bullies are bullied by their parents.

[LymphocyteLover]

52. Oh yes, whoops!

fixed it

[The Jungle 1]

70. Yea I wish I would have thought a little before posting

This is a sore subject for me and I went off.
Fingers before brain.

[LymphocyteLover]

78. No problem-- I probably would have reacted similarly if I'd seen that

[Karadeniz]

5. Bullies need to be removed from the schools, their parents need to be counseled, perhaps a parent

needs to accompany their bully to school, even if one has to quit a job.

[ShazzieB]

55. For that to happen, schools would have to actually give a crap about bullied kids.

Last edited Sat Apr 1, 2023, 09:37 PM - Edit history (1)

And they don't. Okay, I think some do, but a hell of a lot of them don't, no matter what lip service they may give to the issue of bullying.

I say this as a kid who was bullied. The schools I went to did not show any signs of caring. I was a quiet kid who didn't act out and whose academic performance was uneven but nowhere close to flunking out. The kind of kid whose problems get ignored, because the school is too busy dealing with the kids who are causing them problems by being disruptive.

When I was a kid, schools didn't have nearly as many pressures on them as schools today have, so I don't know what their excuse was back then, for not trying to help kids like me. Nowadays, schools have a lot more to contend with, which probably makes it even easier to ignore kids who are struggling but not doing anything to call attention to themselves.

Bullying has become a hot button issue in recent years, which means most school administrators recognize (or at least claim to recognize) that it's a problem that should be addressed in some way That is more than they did when I was in school, but it's not nearly enough. Too many of them are like the superintent quoted in this story, ready to spout jargon but not actually DO anything to help. (Did anyone else want to punch him in the face? Because I sure did.

Classroom teachers are better than administrators, on the whole. Some really do care. I had some great ones. But I think the system as a whole was and is often stacked against them and against kids like me and the kid in this story who are miserable but not disruptive. That sucks.

I apologize for spending so much time talking about myself in here. When I read about a bullied kid like Terry, I can't help but see myself, and all those emotions come flooding back. Triggering is an overused word nowadays, but that's what this is for me.

For every tragedy like this one, I can't help but wonder how many other kids there are who survive the bullying and seem to be doing okay but still carry the burden of these experiences and always will. The memories may fade into the background, but they NEVER really go away.

[Karadeniz]

65. This isn't the first suicide due to bullying. It must stop!!!! If a school had reported any of us

kids to our parents for bullying, we'd have been homebound after school for the rest of the semester.

[Celerity]

75. Good luck forcing people to quit their jobs. nt

[Farmer-Rick]

6. The school made no changes to prevent such suicides in the future

Never tell a kid to ignore his bullies. It never works to stop it and only makes the bullies increase their attack.

You have to engage the school officials who allow the bullying or pretend it's not important. The school and teachers know it's going on. They either agree with it or are too afraid of the bullies themselves.

And if they ignore the victim's family, take the kid out of school. Homeschool or hire a tutor. But don't leave the kid in such a dangerous situation without support or help.

This is the worse advice to give the target of bullies: "I just tried to make him stronger, you know, let that stuff go, take it as a grain of salt, walk away, that kind of thing,"

It takes away the responsibility from the abusers and puts it onto their victims.

[spudspud]

20. +1 /nt

[Jedi Guy]

28. "...or are too afraid of the bullies themselves."

I think it's more likely that they're afraid of the parents of the bullies, and I suspect it's worse if those parents are wealthy or highly placed in the community, such as a local attorney or police chief. People will ignore a lot of bad behavior to cling to the notion that their "little angel" would never do such a thing, and they'll retaliate against someone leveling accusations they dislike.

Never tell a kid to ignore his bullies. It never works to stop it and only makes the bullies increase their attack.

Speaking as someone who was bullied through most of his school career, this is generally true. Sometimes a bully will lose interest and look for a more reactive target, but not always. The only thing bullies understand is strength/force.

I can't imagine how this kid's parents must feel. I can't imagine having to look at the other kids in his school and wonder, "Was it you? Were you the one who pushed my kid over the edge?" I can't imagine the rage and the desire to punish them.

Fuck bullies, and fuck everyone who enables or aids them. May they get what they deserve.

[Tree Lady]

38. I was bullied for a year and a half

by a group of girls that thought I finked on them, I didn't, I was just asking the teacher how much longer we had to run.

Luckily for me they stopped in high school but they made my life hell for that year and half, afraid to go to school or our small town because they found me in wolworths once and pushed me around and I had to call parents to pick me up. They did nothing and they knew about it, didn't call school or parents. My parents were going through a stressful time of their own and basically ignored me.

I did have a few friends during that time or I might have swirled into worse depression.

[Jedi Guy]

72. I'm sorry you had to endure that, Tree Lady.

I'm glad you had friends to support you through that time, though.

[Tree Lady]

73. Thanks

I realize now I had very low self esteem which seems to be true for most bullied people.

Maybe that is one area parents could get help for their children. It takes a lot of confidence to stand up to a bully.

[Aristus]

71. My parents told me to ignore my bully.

I tried to, and he bullied me until the last day of school. The only reason he stopped after that is because we moved away.

I wish, just once, I had slammed him up against a wall. He would have moved on to easier prey.

[Mariana]

29. "They only do it because they know it bothers you."

This blames the victim.

[AllaN01Bear]

7. and you wonder why there are so many lawsuits against school districts

by former students saying " you failed to protect me"

[SYFROYH]

8. Damn, that hurt my heart to read. I worry for my 17-year old boy.

He had a close friend suicide when he was 13.

He's struggled from time to time with loneliness.

He's not gifted with athletic prowess, the currency of teenage boys.

He has a core group of 3 friends, but they are all a little nerdy. They like each other.

He didn't think he was good looking, but he's so handsome. He's kind and smart. He empathizes with others. He has a great future, but I still worry.

Fortunately, he goes to a private school where they kick out bullies or irritate the parents that they pull their kids.

We talk. When he is sad I promise him it will get better.

Sometimes I think if I can just get him to 25-years, he'll lose that stupid impulsivity and see the happy life he can have.

[Jedi Guy]

31. I was (and still am) a nerd, dork, or geek, whichever term you prefer.

When I was a kid, that was a bad thing to be, but now so much of nerd culture has actually become kind of popular, like D&D and other TTRPGs. Video games aren't for dorky loners anymore, just about everyone plays them to some degree.

If you would, please pass on a message to your son (who sounds like a great kid) from me, a fellow nerd. This is what I wish I could go back in time and say to my younger self.

High school seems like the entire world, but it isn't. The world is waiting for you to hit it like a thunderbolt and make your mark, and you have the brains to do it. Your world will expand in ways you can't even imagine right now, and you'll find so many people who share your interests. Stay strong and smart and kind, stand up for yourself when you need to, and stay hopeful. There are better days to come.

[SYFROYH]

61. Thank you

[soldierant]

53. 25 may not be old enough

It wasn't old enough for Tommie Raskin.

I can't diagnose clinical depreession but you migh want to speak with someone wh could.

[SYFROYH]

64. It's true that the risk of suicide never leaves.

But it is true that the brain has a lot of maturing to do until 25-ish.

Thank you for your kind thoughts.

[Docreed2003]

9. Heartbreaking

As a parent, I can't even begin to imagine this level of heartbreak. We have raised two girls who are now in their 20's and a 13 yo son who is the same age as Terry. My wife and I had a discussion recently about the level of bullying and what kids today have to deal with on a daily basis. Those bullies weren't born with that behavior. They had to have learned it somewhere. There have always been bullies ,to one extent or the other, but today the kids seem so much meaner and unrelenting. I can't help but think it's a reflection of what they're learning at home and in society at large.

[Torchlight]

10. Is bullying more widespread or pronounced or different in the here and now?

I ask this from a position of complete ignorance. After graduating from a pretty normal, uneventful life in high school in the early 80s, I never looked back of gave it a second thought. I remember a handful of fights, I remember a few gaggles of cliques exiling members for social transgressions, I even remember a young woman running out of science class humiliated while classmates were laughing (I found out much, much later she was simply surprised by her first period).


In the here and now though, I read these news articles and wonder if it existed 40 years ago in roughly the same form and measure as it comes across today, and I'm forced to ask myself, "has this behavior increased dramatically, or was I just oblivious to, and ignorant of, what may have been tragically obvious to me had I simply opened my eyes to it at the time?"

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. It's at the same level, for the same reasons, but it's amplified as time goes on through technology,

social changes, the degradation of public spaces and the social safety net, and so on. It's all connected.

[grantcart]

22. It's more amplified with the social media platforms

In our day it would be a comment but now it becomes a string of messages linked and repeated and passing it around builds momentum.

[Jedi Guy]

33. Back in the day, once you were home, you were safe.

Now, thanks to the wonders of technology, the harassment never stops. Bullies can follow you in ways they never could before, and engage in new and terrible forms of harassment and abuse.

I was bullied through most of my school career, and I vividly recall getting home and feeling that flood of relief because I was finally safe. The bullies couldn't get me there. I could shrug off my backpack, sit down on the floor, and hug my dog while I cried. He patiently stood there and let me hang onto him and bawl my eyes out.

Kids now just don't have that sheltered place anymore. Their phones and tablets and computers give their tormentors a window into the very heart of a kid's world, and the only escape is to totally disconnect, which only worsens the pain and isolation and loneliness.

I really don't envy the generations who followed me, for a number of reasons.

[mzmolly]

11. If schools don't act, school

kids at home. It's so sad reading story after story about kids having to tolerate bullying and later giving up.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. Our culture is so cruel.

[Jilly_in_VA]

15. And as I've often said

middle schoolers are, even on their best days, unreconstructed barbarians. Especially in groups. Even the girls.

[JonAndKatePlusABird]

74. Lord of the flies

[Celerity]

76. It's the American way. Cruelty is the point for tens of millions.

Look at the crazy low level of people who value community involvement. Even for Democrats it is shamefully low.

Those much desired, chased after Indie voters are the worst, however, even below the Rethug goons.

Same for having children.

No wonder so many community strengthening pieces of legislation get chopped. Same for children supportive pieces.

Look at who the Democratic Party is chasing for votes.

Also look at the crazy levels for Rethugs for God and Country. Only thing missing is Guns.

That patriotism for Rethugs is fake, of course. It's a pose, a contrivance, as it only applies to a christofash, white nationalist construct of 'Murica.

Same for their shitty, vengeful, hate-filled 'god' and their shitty, hate-filled religion.

[ChazII]

16. When have schools ever prevented bullying?

"There were kids at Covington Middle School, the family alleges, who bullied Terry every day, asking if he shopped at Goodwill, calling him a "fatass," making fun of his shoes, laughing at his haircut, telling him he was worthless.

"I get picked on every (single) day and I hate my life," Terry said in the video. "You can thank (Terry listed his bullies' names) for this." Then Terry turned off the video and put his phone down."

This was my son's life from pre-k through the 6th grade. Those were the years from hell. Things changed in middle school and he was accepted by his peers and things were even better in high school. My son looked like Quasimodo in the Disney version.

He heard the words fat cheek, monster and geek every day. We would be followed in the grocery stores, at the park and even in the mall with kids pointing and staring.

My heart aches for this family. My son made it through to become an adult and incredible source of strength for his friends when they needed emotional support.

He passed from the same brain tumor that took Pres. Biden's son, a glioblastoma.

[Jedi Guy]

34. I'm sorry your son suffered that way, and I'm so sorry you lost him.

[Upthevibe]

35. ChazII..........

I'm so sorry to hear about your son's passing and his hard years when he was being bullied...

[phylny]

37. I'm sorry for your loss.

It sounds like your son grew to be a fine man.

[ChazII]

46. phyiny, he did grow up

to be a fine man. His peers in middle school and high school accepted him and really liked his sense of humor. Although he was always turned down he went to the school dances and proms. He was like everyone's kid brother and their protector should they need one. Sometimes looking scary had its advantages.

During the last 11 months of his life his friends gave him so much emotional support and were always a phone call away for support. He even proposed and the gal accepted knowing there never would be a marriage. She gave me the ring a year after he passed.

Thank you, DU for your support.

[Johnny2X2X]

17. The immense amount of shame the bullied feel

Kids who are bullied feel so much shame that they’ll do just about anything to hide the fact that they are being bullied from everyone. Kids are experts at hiding things from their parents and they can be experts at pretending they’re OK.

And here’s the tough part, adults cant solve this. More attention and rules around bullying just increase the shame. Only other kids can really help. Teaching kids to stop bullying when they see it, to be the one who helps is hard, but it’s what can help. Those doing the bullying are probably being bullied themselves and are lacking self confidence and bullying to try to fit in.

[Mariana]

30. Especially when the adults blame them for being attacked.

"They only do it because you let them know it bothers you. If you ignore them they will stop." Kids interpret this as "It's YOUR fault this is happening."

[talking-liberally]

18. I have 4 friends who have lost a child

3 to suicide and one to opioids.

My friend, who's child was lost to opioids, has started a foundation funding research and education about opioids, sexual assault, and social medial bullying. They are doing amazing work.

https://beccaschmillfdn.org/

[ancianita]

21. There's preventive help.

https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources/laws


https://assignmentbro.com/blog/bullying-prevention-resources

20 Bullying Prevention Resources for Students

We decided to collect several resources without focusing on a single geographic location since this information will be helpful for any student wishing to find immediate help and increase one’s understanding of the bullying problem.

Bully Bust: Center for Social and Emotional Education.
It is a great bullying awareness campaign that is aimed at school students and adults to promote upstander behavior. It is one of the best initiatives to prevent this menacing problem.

Committee for Children.
Regardless of your age or location, this child abuse and violence prevention education resource helps master socio-emotional skills and learn how to cope with emotional challenges even if you are one of the bullies.

National Education Association (NEA).
It has various anti-bullying resources, posters, and information that you can use for your school or college to start an anti-bullying campaign.

Stop Bullying Now.
It is one of those anti-bullying websites that take an interactive approach and explain anything from awareness to prevention and intervention.

Teaching Tolerance.
This resource believes that one of the best ways to prevent bullying is to tell about the differences and to reduce prejudice and bias.

Here are some anti bullying resources for educators and parents:

National Association of School Psychologists.
It is useful to find out how one can provide special frameworks that help to prevent bullying both for private and public educational institutions.

The Bully Project.
A valuable resource that shows how social activism can empower students, parents, or an educator as they provide help to learners with special needs.

Stomp Out Bullying.
An important resource for parents that helps to understand that one’s child is being bullied. It has smartphone guides and red flag alerts to spot the signs of bullying.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
It provides several important resources that help to understand the problem of bullying from both sides through psychiatric lenses.

College-specific bullying prevention resources:

Taking Action Against Racism in Higher Learning.
Since racial prejudice also relates to our problem, this website provides suggestions and strategies for addressing these disturbing impacts.

Reducing Stereotype Threat.
This resource researches bullying in academic settings by taking a deeper look at how some students are always appearing in disturbing circumstances as they try to learn and achieve success.

Understanding Prejudice.
It has a collection of resources that deal with discrimination of college students, multiculturalism, and diversity challenges. It aims to reduce intolerance and addresses the problems of contemporary society.

Connect Blackboard.
This organization focuses on helping local police officers identify and report cases of cyberbullying. One can send SMS messages if the school administration does nothing to report a problem.

End Cyberbullying. It provides legal help for the victims of cyberbullying and helps parents and friends of the victims to take legal action.

General Helpful Bullying Resources:

Bullying Statistics.
It has information about adult bullies, workplace bullying, school cases, and more. If you want to find detailed information about how frequent a certain type is, visit this resource.

Love is Respect.
A unique website for college students who seek community help and advice on safe dating. It explains everything about safety and provides online counselling services.

End Violence Everywhere.
We have intentionally included this website since many bullies will read our resource as well and will require help. It is aimed at the survivors of domestic violence who seek help and want to speak out.

Jed Foundation.
Even if you are not in the United States, the Jed Foundation is one of those anti bullying websites that helps to learn more about emotional health and suicide prevention programs among college or university students. It explains the red flags and helps students to assist their emotionally-disturbed friends.

Jewish Collegiate.
This resource will help students with a Jewish background to find cultural support and learn more about being proud of one’s heritage. It is quite important when one wants to become empowered.

Muslim Student Association.
This national group focuses on helping young people on campus by teaching them how to socialize and avoid becoming a bullying victim.

Remember that bullying is against the law and must be reported!

Our guide provides initial resources to help you start protecting yourself and the people around you. Do not be a passive bystander – be the change you want to see and the world will become a safer place for us all!

[jmbar2]

23. Heart breaking. Here is another good resource

This project is training ordinary people to intervene. Dr. Zimbardo's Ted Talk is very powerful.

What started initially as the controversial Stanford Prison Experiment by Dr. Philip Zimbardo in 1971 became a collective social experiment called the Heroic Imagination Project, a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to training people to act in more heroic ways. Since 2010, HIP has been conducting trainings and workshops for businesses and schools across the United States and many nations around the world. Whether taking on bullying, improving workplace culture, or confronting discrimination, HIP has been committed to teaching skills so people and groups can act heroically every day.

https://www.heroicimagination.org

[Artcatt]

24. Bullying caused me damage I'll spend my life repairing.

[RSherman]

26. What are the schools supposed to do

This story and others like it are absolutely heartbreaking. That said, what are the schools supposed to do? I taught high school for 33 years. School staff and administration did what we could, what was in our control. But now with social media, stuff gets started outside of school, then the kids bring it in to the school. I had two girls who I knew were having a problem with each other. I went to each separately, talked to them, begged them not to fight. The one girl was pretty receptive, but the other girl kept up crap on social media. She took it too far and the other girl attacked her during class. The kids think they're all tough online and they don't think the other party will really do anything about it. And, can I tell you the number of ADULTS who weigh in on teens' social media? It's horrible. Forty year old women "yelling" at a kid online. We had a parent trying to hunt down a high school boy at a concert because he heard the boy had said something bad about his daughter. Another girl planned an attack on another student. She pushed the girl's face in her locker from behind. She then threw her phone to a friend so that the fight could be recorded and posted online. Fortunately, she picked the wrong girl and the "victim" took the aggressor to the ground. And, can I tell you how often I was bullied by students and just had to take it? In a math class, this girl called me over every day for help. When I tried to explain the math problem, she would immediately start to argue with me, always ending with her calling me a "b...tch" and a "c*nt". There was a meeting with the girl, school social worker, principal and me but it never resolved. The girl's mother wrote a horrible letter to me. This girl is the one who I just referred to who started a fight. Thankfully, she was kicked out of school for the rest of the year. There was a parent conference with an elementary school student's father (big guy) and he came over the table at the female principal. Teachers were threatened by parents all the time.

When I was in high school, I tried not to get stuck in the halls after the bell. There were 2 girls who would stuff me in my locker. I did not use the bathrooms for fear of running into them. I did not tell anyone; I just dealt with it. I did not feel damaged or suicidal. I don't know why the results of bullying are so different now. It has to be social media.

[malaise]

27. This is so sad

My brother's stepson and I have a very good relationship. He told me that we could never understand the bullying he and his friends face on line.
Then he added that they were all forced on line during Covid and that made things much worse because parents couldn't protect them because they had to attend on line school.

It is not something our generation had to face and way too many parents do not understand how painful this is for kids.

[Lonestarblue]

36. I remember a study done a couple of years into the Trump presidency reporting that schools were

were seeing an increase in bullying. That said, bullying has been a problem for far too long, and I think the ginned up hatred and anger in our society is contributing to it. Angry, vengeful parents most likely create angry, vengeful kids who often become bullies. Having empathy for others who are different from you must be taught. Instead of banning books, worrying about CRT, and persecuting trans kids, Republicans need to worry more about bullying and school murders and start working with Democrats to address both.

[HariSeldon]

47. And people are angry because the wealthy take too much

When such a large slice of the economic pie goes to the already wealthy, everyone else feels squeezed. And people in an economically threatened situation can easily turn against those nearby whose economic success might hinder it further threaten their own. Children then absorb this malevolence be and it comes out as bullying.

We need a cultural shift to prioritize something other than wealth, something that says wealth is only valuable amidst universal opportunity, and that otherwise wealth should be considered gauche.

[Initech]

51. Not only that, kids were using Trump's language and mannerisms to bully others.

What the parents watch and listen to absolutely has an affect on the kids.

[The Jungle 1]

39. My brother was bullied

I tried to intervene and my parents got mad at me.
My brother crawled into a bottle for a few years and then stuck a 357 in his mouth. He did it in his childhood tree house.
These stories make me weep every single time and I am 67.

What this nation cares about is artistic performers at drag shows. That is very fucking important.

I should probably stop.

[former9thward]

41. This was odd.

Normally athletes and team leaders are not bullied in school. Also, unless I missed it, I did not see what was the method of suicide.

[Jon King]

43. Agreed, something is strange about this situation.

Been a coach for decades, kids in all sports. Can not remember a kid who excels at a sport, especially baseball or football, being bullied. They get a pass for being overweight, unattractive, etc. Their sports ability overwhelms it all. 27 home runs? He would be an idol of kids and the baseball parents.

Maybe this was the exception. But it seems like more was involved here, perhaps untreated depression, and other factors.

[questionseverything]

57. I would bet the bullies were rich kids that wished they had his skill

[former9thward]

60. It makes no sense.

Someone with 27 home runs would be an idol among students. Other students would be totally protective of an athlete. They would not give damn about money. That is reality.

[questionseverything]

63. There are less than 3000 people in his little town

It wasn’t that he didn’t have any friends , it was that his bullies were relentless

Probably other kids didn’t stick up for him because they didn’t want to become the target

Small town politics are horrid and dangerous

[Jon King]

42. He loved to hunt squirrels??

I hate bullies and feel for this family but we may not know all that was going on, we are hearing the side of his people of course.

I grew up in a similar environment, but 'love to hunt squirrels' is a bit odd. Not normal hunting, almost like a kid whom likes to harm helpless things.

Like the post above said, athletes getting moved up to varsity in 8th grade are almost never bullied, most football kids are heavy. I have a feeling there is a lot more to this entire story than we are hearing.

[Raine]

50. I think too there was lots going on

that they're keeping under wraps, the squirrel hunting really sticks out.

[Elessar Zappa]

58. My dad took me squirrel hunting at that age and younger.

I wasn’t nor turned into a sociopath or someone who enjoys harming things for the sake of it.

[questionseverything]

59. You are really out of line

Poor people eat squirrels

There’s nothing wrong with that

[Zeitghost]

77. Hunting squirrels

for food is extremely common in the south.

[LiberalArkie]

44. Jocks we always my bullies. School would never do anything because you know football.

Nothing like being stripped naked and pushed into the girls locker room and being kicked silly by the girls. Then suspended for a couple of weeks because you know, had to be my fault cause the jocks can do no wrong.

[Warpy]

45. 13 is an absolutely rotten age for most of us

and I almost didn't survive it, either.

Cutting them dead when I turned into a swan at 16 didn't help much. The damage was done.

[edisdead]

48. I am going to push back a little

The statement that schools are not preventing bullying is plain wrong. Some schools may not be doing a great job at it but that statement is wildly inaccurate. I have been driving a school bus for a few years now and I can tell you that the word bully and bullying carry serious weight. When there is a problem between kids on the bus and you raise the words “I do not condone bullying” it is heard almost every single time. And this I have experienced across multiple schools at multiple age groups. I will also say that while I am sure there are differences between different regions, in my observation there is a way different take on LGBTQ+ and racial differences or other differences between the “norm” among kids these days than when I was a kid (Born in 75). I do think that has a lot to do with the education system and the messaging there. Of course I am in MN so perhaps things are different here than other parts of the country. However, I do think the statement that schools are not preventing bullying PERIOD isn’t accurate at all. I would say that there are many PARENTS that are teaching their children hateful things. Expecting the education system to thwart that is asking a lot. Too much in fact.

[ecstatic]

56. Horrible tragedy. Was a gun involved? nt

[FakeNoose]

62. What a sad story, and I'm guessing the teachers knew about the bullying

[Meowmee]

67. very tragic

Clearly the school officials failed to do their job.

[a kennedy]

69. Breaks my heart........

[LymphocyteLover]

79. Saw this story in the local paper, the Indy Star.

didn't realize he was a local kid. Super sad.

My son was bullied in middle school ... tough age. He's 26 now but that hurt lingers.