text: KnitzAndFeltz: BULLYING
  I. Was. Bullied.
  (And before you continue reading, please don't try to speculate when, where, how, by whom, your speculation could be incorrect and that is NOT what this blog post is about.)
  I. Was. Bullied. It started as a private message threatening both me and my business and spiraled out-of-control extremely quickly to become a very public calling out. I felt hurt, humiliated, embarrassed, violated. I'm 50+ years old and, at first, I thought "Oh My Goodness… I can't let my family find out! – What if my friends see this? – Are my business contacts going to believe these slanderous lies?"
  Ironically, just the night before, I had seen a news report on a beautiful young girl who at 17 had committed suicide after being bullied. The report talked of the dangers and life changing possibilities when young children/young adults are subjected to this.
  I'm an adult… and my heart raced all day long! I had a pit in my stomach for days! I couldn't get the hurt, the humiliation, the feeling of intense sadness to go away! The blatant, slanderous lies - How could someone do this to me? And, then as the days turned into nights – and I did share this incident with my family (and because of the threatening nature of the original message, the local police) – I started thinking what WOULD an 8 year old, or an 11 year old, or a 17 year old feel? As an adult I can, with time, put things into perspective. Those young minds cannot always do that. They want to be accepted, to be liked, to be loved. To them the private message and public calling out might be so hurtful they would start to believe it to be true. It is unconscionable!
  Would my girls have had the courage to tell me, had this happened to them? Would they have had the courage to report this to the authorities? And, would they have been able to put this behind them, seeing the bully as just that – A BULLY, and move on? Bullying is dangerous and very, very wrong! I beg you to be knowledgeable on this subject. If you have kids, know the signs. Talk to your children about the dangers of both being bullied and of being a bully. If you are an adult don't be afraid to speak up, report abuse you see on Facebook or other social networks… and PLEASE don't participate or be part of the problem.
  Be informed ~ Here are just a few of the informational web pages available on the subject:
  Remember, It Takes A Village… Only working together will we be able to stop bullying.
  Copyright © 2010 KnitzAndFeltz All Rights Reserved
  Posted by Knitz And Feltz on Saturday, April 24, 2010
  Labels: awareness, bullied, bullies, bully, bullying, cruel, cruelty, danger, dangerous, dangers, educate, education, emotion, facebook, intimidate, intimidation, lie, lies, slander