I think it used to be considered almost normal for kids to pick on other kids or even teachers and coaches doing the same. I guess it was not so bad for us back then. I moved around a fair amount when I was young and that always led to being picked on or even bullied by the other kids. I never really seemed to fit in, I was not gay or really all that different, I was just into different things at times and liked computers which not many people were into. I had a rough go of it through out school which may be why I am as shy as I am, but I am one of the lucky ones, I came out just shy, others killed themselves. Why is it more prevalent now? Maybe it has to do with the fact the kids cannot get away from it now, it used to be that you could go home, like me, and submerse yourself in whatever it was I wanted to, and could forget about school, now the kids come home and get on computers like all of their counterparts do, but the bullying just continues through whatever social media they happen to be on. How many times do you have to hear how bad a person you are before it starts to tear you down to the point of wanting to end your life. A month or so ago a ten year old….yes I said 10 year old killed herself, and it was attributed to bullying. Then one of the people I had actually liked to read the posts from on EmpireAvenue, a high school student wrote about how his teacher led some of the students to pick on him and now he has quit Facebook and EmpireAvenue as well, which worries me. I also know someone close to me that was picked on for most of his life because he was a little bigger than they were, one of the nicest kids you could ever meet, and he was being picked on. And I know of a coach that had a bunch of kids calling someone very close to me “a quitter” over and over again, among other things that I am sure we may never hear all because he didn’t want to play for a coach like him. Luckily their was another coach that was very understanding and listened to my wife, who was strong enough to say something in the first place, about the situation because it seemed to end. Then today I see this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TdkNn3Ei-Lg#! and I just have to wonder, what in the world is being done about it? Why are kids able to do this still even if they know what it seems to lead to more so than it ever did. This should be considered hate crimes now, we do not seem to have any problem jumping to the conclusion that racial issues are hate crimes, what about the abuse these kids are getting at schools at the hands of their peers or their “protectors”? Why should a gay person, a fat person, a smart person, a quiet person, or just someone that is different, be treated like this? Sorry for the rant but seeing this video has made me a bit angry with society!