Parent: Topless photo of female student circulating among students at Northland middle school

[davidthegnome]

71. Damn. Poor girl.

She was just a young kid. A young kid who wanted attention, affection... and went about it the wrong way. She did not deserve what those shits did to her. I remember well what it was like to sit alone during school lunches. The cafeteria is full, yet no one wants you to sit by them because they don't want to be associated with someone unpopular, someone weird... one of the social misfits or outcasts. It brings back memories...

In elementary school and middle school I was a quiet, shy kid. I would stand alone during recess and watch the cars go by, I would sit by myself during lunch because no one wanted to associate with a weird kid. I did some things to impress people, shoplifting, breaking things, getting into trouble... if nothing else, I thought the bad boy image could win me some friends. All it really got me was more trouble, parents and teachers thinking I was a bad kid..

Eighth grade, I moved to a smaller town, a smaller school. For the first time in my young life I made friends, got to know people who didn't already have an image of me as... different, weird, trouble. It was one of the best years of my life, until high school began and my smaller school had to merge with the high school of the town I'd grown up in. All of my so called friends had nothing to say to me, would not meet my eyes if we passed in the hall - and even took part in the little circles that laughed at me.

I walked through the cafeteria, my first day of school... carrying a tray and wishing I could just disappear. There weren't many tables to sit at... as I walked past one that was considered the cool table, kids kept saying things like, "That fag isn't sitting by me."

The first day of high school was my last. I told my parents that if they ever made me go again I'd end my life. I probably would have at the time - I didn't understand how shallow, ignorant and cruel most teenagers really are. I didn't know that life could get better. I expected to be a loser, a misfit, an outcast - the weird guy - for the rest of my life.

So I have some inkling of how this poor girl must have felt. Not so different from the poor kid being mentioned in the OP. What does this say about our teenagers? What does this say about their parents? What does it say about our culture? This society... is not terribly forgiving of mistakes, nor of ugliness or strangeness. Deviate but a little from the norm and you can ruin your whole life.

Some times I wish intelligent aliens would come conquer earth, take control, and make us behave like decent beings...