What happened to me happened because we, as a culture, don't see torment in schools as abuse. We minimize, ignore, and expect the victim to get over it. I've been told I should move on and get past it hundreds of times. And while I'm being told that I've watched stories like Columbine unfold.

Our culture must change how we see abuse in schools. I endured severe physical and emotional trauma and one does not just get over such a thing. It stays with you. We must recognize that children with problems at home come to school and visit equal torment on their peers with equally traumatic results. We must also see that simple teasing, when done on a massive scale by countless children, isn't teasing anymore, it's torture. This is especially true when you consider the fragile nature of a child's mental and emotional state during these critical years of public socialization.

To solve this problem and to ensure that what happened to me stops happening to other kids, we need a comprehensive reeducation of our school staff, an increased staffing of counselors trained to recognize and deal with the problem, and more effective outreach programs designed to meet the needs of the bullies and victims alike.

That's what I'd love to see happen but so far there's little public will for such a thing. Token efforts are made after large school shootings but they are localized and short lived. In an era when school funding is being cut in crucial areas such as the arts, I'm not surprised that administrators are not devoting resources to keeping our schools safe for everyone.

There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not hurting from how I grew up. I hope one day this will stop happening to people.

Cyran0