The Effects of Bullying

I came across this video because a friend posted it on facebook. It makes me think of the power of internet in spreading news as well as the reality of bullying in today's schools. 

It is late at night and I'm still processing this video. In short this is what I feel -  I see the effects of it on my students who are beaten down and tired of being made fun of. And its not just in junior high. They have been made fun of since they started school. It breaks my heart to see students picked on because of the color of their skin, their appearance, their speech, their likes or dislikes, their sexual orientation, their grades, their athletic abilities (or lack of), or whatever it is. It hurts me to see other students be mean to each other, even in jest. Sometimes it is the jokes that hurt the worst. I had friends jokingly say mean things about my appearance in junior high and sometimes it was worse than them saying an outright mean comment. I never knew where the line between joke and hurtful was and was left to determine it on my own. There is more to say and do about this subject, but again, it is late and my brain has little room for processing.