(This post is based on a true story, but recent information shows the supposed threat to be an ill-advised, inappropriate joke that led to the student taking his own life for reasons we will probably never know. It may or may not have any connection to bullying, but I am choosing to leave the post as is, because it still deals with other stories that our nation has and is dealing with.)
Words have the power to love, encourage, hurt, destroy. .
What power do your words have?
Last week, my small community was hit with a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened. . . That still makes no sense.
A highschool senior shot himself while being taken into custody for a supposed threat towards another student and perhaps others.
A young man that was a part of our youth group. . . who seemed to always have a positive outlook, a goofy comment, or a deep question.
Why? That is the question that keeps surfacing. What happened to cause this behavior?
We may never know the reason behind the threat, no evidence has been found of any follow through. And personally I truly doubt there would of been. . . .
But even knowing this young man, I’m glad the threat was taken seriously and school was closed.
But why did he kill himself? What made him decide that was the only solution?
Could it have been from bullying? I know that he was made fun of, that kids were harsh and mean towards him. He was a little different, had a few social behavior differences, but thats no excuse for bullying.
Could it have been those words that set this young man off? That convinced him to take his own life?
What if those bullies had treated him like a friend or even just left him alone. Would he still be here? Would there of ever been a threat?
We will never know.
BUT, we do know that words are POWERFUL.
Words make a difference.
YOU have control over the words that come out of your mouth. They can be used to hurt and destroy or they can be used to uplift and encourage.
If you are a parent, YOU have the responsibility to teach your children that bullying is wrong and it must be punished.
If you know someone who is being bullied, please let a teacher, staff, or parent know.
