Too young to die

I read an even more disturbing article in yesterday’s paper, about a 10-year-old boy who took his own life due to bullying. He was the youngest of four and possessed a beautiful smile.

He had been relentlessly bullied at school, which had only that week spilled onto the school bus where he had been physically assaulted.

The parents stated they had been to the school numerous times to complain but their concerns had been ignored.

However, the principal denied any concerns had been aired by the parents, effectively wiping away any responsibility from himself.

I read many of the ensuing comments, and most of these were suggesting the parents of the bullies and the school should take responsibility. But what about the bullies themselves. As far as I am concerned, no punishment for these boys would be enough. If they had done that to any of my children, I would want to torture them, that’s how strongly I feel. Of course, I wouldn’t because that is just repeating unacceptable behaviour. It is not ok to torment another child and it is certainly not ok to physically assault another child on the school bus, a place where a child should feel safe. Other comments suggested that the police should have been involved following that bus incident and with that I agree. Others suggested home-schooling but for some that is not an option, particularly if both parents work. But why should a child not be entitled to safety at their school. A child shouldn’t have to be forced into home schooling because other children are nasty. Those are the children that should be removed if anyone is going to be.

Sadly, this type of behaviour often starts in the home, where a child is never taught to be respectful to others.

I was delighted this morning watching my grandson play soccer. He had a wonderful game, scoring three of the four goals. For his efforts, he was given a packet of rolled lollies by the coach. When he got back to his parents, he was chided for not sharing these with the other team members.

‘’But they didn’t share with me last week,’’ he protested.

Both his parents jumped in. ‘’It doesn’t matter what they did, you need to share.’’

That made me feel so good, that this boy was being taught to be considerate of his team members, regardless of how they had behaved to him. And after all, any goal scoring is always a team effort.  

Sadly, not all children are taught to be kind to others. I read a further article in this morning’s paper, this time about a 13-year-old New Zealand girl. She also took her own life and had also been bullied.

The alarming factors here are that children this young are even contemplating ending their lives, and are getting enough information to be able to do such a thing. Where has our society gone so wrong that this is happening?

My heart goes out to both families of these beautiful young children. I hope justice is served, in that the bullies are held accountable and punished for their actions and I hope there are a few more campaigns within the schools that highlight the negative effects of bullying. I also hope the heads of schools clamp down on the bullies with zero tolerance to such behaviour.

Let’s hope these lives have not gone in vain.