Bully Bullying Cyberbullying Bullycide – These four words continue to appear with ever greater frequency in the lexicon of the modern American family. We hear these words on the evening news, in our newspapers, and online in all forums. We live in 2011, but to see how we treat one and other from afar, you’d think perhaps the calendar had rolled back a few centuries. You see – individuals be they young or not-so-young are bullied both at school and at work. The tragedy is, our youth of today, by and large are not prepared for today’s always-on world, even though they live it 24/7. The fact that in 2010 we lost 34 children where bullying was a principal issue in their decision to end their lives speaks volumes. There were 33 who committed suicide. Then there was one young man who was killed while trying to extricate his sibling from two bullies who were pummeling his sibling, he was shot and killed. Each of them has a story, I share these…
Alexis Pilkington – Age 17
Alexis Pilkington was a Senior at West Islip High School who was bullied incessantly online. Cyberbullying is what that is called. Her mean-spirited classmates posted unflattering and simply mean content on both on “Facebook” and the less known, but perhaps more dangerous “Formspring.”