Treasure Each Moment

warlike:

thedailyfeed:

Ashlynn Conner, a pretty ‘All-American’ girl, was driven to suicide by bullies at just 10 years old. 

The day before she died, Ashlynn came home in tears. 

Kids had bullied Ashlynn for years, calling her a “slut,” “fat,” and “ugly,” so that day’s incident seemed relatively minor to [her mother] Stacy: The girls had poked fun at Ashlynn’s initials, “A.C.,” saying it sounded like “air conditioner.”

 Three different teachers at the school had told Ashlynn to “stop tattling” after she reached out for help, the girl told her mother. It was the Thursday before Veterans Day, and Stacy told Ashlynn she should go straight to the principal the following Monday if the bullying continued.

 “But she didn’t want to wait until Monday,” Stacy told The Daily.

 Ashlynn’s older sister found her hanging by her neck from a scarf in a bedroom closet on Friday night. She was pronounced dead before 9 p.m. at a local hospital, another inconceivably young victim of elementary school bullying.

It starts so fucking early and teachers at the elementary school level don’t seem to have a clue how serious it is. I had a similar experience from kindergarten to eighth grade (so pretty much only when I switched to an arts high school that at the time did not have bullying problems). I was pretty much told not to cry, not to let it get to me, not to “tattle”, not to feel anything, etc. for that nine year period of my life and I was miserable, but told not to show it like that was going to mak it go away.

This is just…. really frustrating and hits way too close to home.

(via arseniccupcakes)