The saddest story I have heard for a long time.

[Pix]

This is so sad. But I have to play devils advocate a little here. Bullies get a bad rap and people typically don't make an effort to understand where they're coming from.

I'm not justifying what bullying, but I just finished a psych course where the last lecture was on this kind of stuff. There was one case where a kid bullied another until the other kid took his own life. It was in the 80's I believe. This kid had an abusive father and was venting on this other kid.

The problem isn't the bullying per se, its inept parenting.

That's not always true. Just one other example that I'd think a psyche course would include is that a boy may feel shame and discomfort over one's own more feminine (or even desire for other guys, or perhaps a sexual experience with another guy welcome or not) and inflict it on another who is perceived as being gay to punish that part of himself (in the bully) and/or to "prove I'm not like that."

But given how many bullies are jocks, I think the problem (in this case) is the school and community that gives them a horrid sense of entitlement and a free pass to engage in bullying behavior (or ironically even in sexually abusing young boys and I've heard of jocks who "hazed" other boys in sexually abusing them with full knowledge of the coach who'd turn a blind eye to it, and there have even been principals who tried to save jocks from being charged as criminals after they found out about a gang rape they did). In this case it isn't just the parents, it's the school and sometimes even the entire community.