I went into my latest Google Alerts and found an article that stood out to me. A boy of eleven who was a football and basketball player and a member of the Boy Scouts. This boy was named Carl Joseph Walker who was in the dawn of life so to speak. I see a picture of Walker in his football uniform smiling for the camera in the article. Unfortunately, this young man is now deceased as he committed suicide due to bullying or what we call bullycide.
Walker was tormented relentlessly by his peers as they made constant anti-gay comments toward him. Also, made fun of his clothes. First off, at eleven, how is he really going to know his sexual orientation? Did these abusers decide he was gay? Who gave them that right to play judge and jury not only to him but to anyone else? This so called “kids playing around and teasing” got to be too much and Carl could not take it any longer. He snapped and hung himself and his mother found him. This bullying but what I consider full blown abuse had been going on since last September. His parents continuously went to the school to try to put a stop to this but to no avail. The school was of no help of course. I hear this same scenario on a daily basis. What is wrong when we live in a world where people just do not care? Especially when it involves children?
I probably sound like a broken record but here it is. Children are our future! It is vital that we raise them in a world where they can find safety and trust adults. A world where people are at least treated with some respect and are able to live with the rights that are given yet stripped from them because of this. There is so much stress out there so why make it worse? Why have we lost an eleven year boy because of this? Where were the school officials? Where were the coaches of the ball teams when the abuse took place? Where was the Boy Scout leader? We have a horrible habit in our society where we ignore the cries of others until something actually happens. After that, we then step up and decide to do something. Some believe all bullies grow up and outgrow this behavior but that is so far from the truth. Some bullies never outgrow this and as adults, become full blown criminals. It angers me that we live in a world now where children are killing each other or they are killing themselves because of the affect they have on one another. Does anyone even care anymore? This was a handsome young man who had his whole life ahead of him. He could have grown up to be a doctor, lawyer or teacher. He could have had a family of his own. However, because of the abuse and the fact that it got to be too much, we will never know what Carl Walker could do or who he would have become. I hope these bullies can live with themselves because every bit of this is on their dirty hands as far as I am concerned. My condolences to the friends and family of Carl Walker. I am so sorry society let him down. He deserved so much better. So much better…..
Resource Cited:
http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2009/04/12/anti-gay-bullying-drives-11-year-old-to-suicide/
Elizabeth Bennett is the author of Peer Abuse Know More! Bullying From a Psychological Perspective and resides in Los Angeles, California.