Justice for Phoebe...

From the Associated Press, today:

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Two of the six teenagers charged in connection with the bullying related suicide of a Massachusetts high school sophomore have been sentenced to a year of probation.
Sean Mulveyhill pleaded guilty to criminal harassment Wednesday in Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court.
Kayla Narey admitted to sufficient facts to the same charge, acknowledging the state could win conviction at trial.
Both 18-year-olds were ordered to do 100 hours of community service to help at-risk children, complete their high school education and were barred from profiting from their involvement in the Phoebe Prince case.
Prince, who moved to South Hadley from Ireland, hanged herself in January 2010 in her family's apartment about 100 miles west of Boston. Prosecutors say the 15-year-old had been relentlessly bullied at school.

I am praying for the Prince family today.

Bullies

Phoebe Prince was bullied to the point that suicide was her answer. The relentless harassment she was subjected to at the hands of fellow students will be played out in court and the media, and I pray justice is served.

During my first year in high school, I was subjected to bullying as the result of a conversation I had with Tracy, who dated a friend of mine. We were not friends, a point I should not have lost sight of. During our conversation we discussed Nicky and Sue, and a kiss.

Sue had made out with Nicky the day before he asked out Roe, a girl I had never met. Tracy reported to Roe it was the day after.

Susan and I began as freshman at the high school where Roe and Tracy were sophomores. And from the first day it was bad.

There was name calling, books were knocked from my arms, and it was not just Roe, a thug and bully, but also her girlfriends. I was pushed on stairs and harassed on buses and after a while, it was easier to spend lunch in the English Resource Center, where I was able to be alone and safe. In a previous life I had been one to solve a problem like this by fighting back, but because it was on school grounds, I would be subject to expulsion. I swallowed the abuse.

Months of this went by, and I HATED school. A school I begged my mother to attend. It was a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. My parents told me I wasn’t allowed to transfer. And no, I never told them all that was going on.

Finally, I confessed to my dear friend Kathy that I was being bullied. It was the day Roe had grabbed me by my coat when I was waiting for the bus. The buttons of my coat went flying in every direction, and I knew if I defended myself I would be expelled, but it was tempting. I was DONE! I stopped being afraid and I got pissed.

I told Kathy everything. Kathy didn't go to my high school.

And Kathy helped me.

Her junior sister, Mary, had a friend Juliet at my high school who knew Roe. From what I was told, Mary sent Roe a message- I was not unprotected. Harassing me would bring Mary, Kathy and others to our school, and Roe would regret it.

So a threat of physical violence, clearly stated and backed up, ended my nightmare for the most part. I still avoided this girl and her friends as much as possible, but I felt the danger of a physical altercation had passed. I would have defended myself, but was glad I didn’t have to.

Years later, I met one of Roe’s friends in a social setting. Clare was, by no means, the worst in her treatment of me, but she was there and saw it, over and over. None of them seemed to mind it at the time.

She asked me if I hated her then. No. I think she was as much a victim of Roe’s behavior as I was.

I don’t know what made Roe go after me. Did she think I had lied? Bad mouthed her boyfriend? How come Nicky got off scott free while Sue and I were harassed?

I never saw her after she graduated and don’t know what she has done since high school. I wonder if she will teach her children to bully others around them. I wonder if the cycle will continue.