Posted on 01/06/2012 5:39:26 AM PST by truthkeeper
CHEYENNE — Alexander Frye was usually quiet and shy around other 13-year-olds. He was slow to make friends at school, his family said, and he was often teased and bullied by classmates.
With adults, Alex was a different person: He was talkative, made friendships easily and impressed even longtime Union Pacific veterans with his encyclopedic knowledge of trains.
About 200 of those adults packed the American Legion Post 6 hall on Wednesday for a police debriefing on Alex, who shot himself in a field south of the Union Pacific railyards early Sunday morning, according to the Laramie County coroner.
The discovery of Alex’s body on Tuesday brought a tragic, abrupt end to three days of searching by hundreds of volunteers...
(Excerpt) Read more at trib.com ...
An incredibly sad story, but to lay blame on bullying is to oversimplify his death.
I do not discount that it happened, nor do I lessen the emotional toll. I think it was but one factor which led to his suicide.
The question I ask is did he have any friends of his own age? No matter how much wisdom he had or how mature he was, he was a 13 year old boy without close friends of his own age. That speaks volumes [to me] regarding the inner turmoil he was dealing with. Was it bullying or a sense of isolation?
I know this isn’t really a “Crime, Law, and Justice” story...I just wanted to ping my friends on this thread.
hmmm...not exactly sure about that.
At the time I couldn’t have know she had “issues” (mental/emotional) and I just happened to be the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It would have been worse if I had been home all day every day...but I wasn’t...I spent a giant chunk of my time at a local gym, so that was my oasis.
As far as conservatism? I definitely learned many important lessons...a bully cannot be reasoned with. You have to figure out their language and speak it forcefully.
I also learned that even if you are going to get pounded - if all you do is land one good shot, they’ll think twice before they do it again.
“pounded”...
LOL sorry it’s not a funny subject, but there’s a word I hadn’t heard since being a kid.
I was meaning more, as a victim. You resolved the problem to the extent possible, via the gym. I’m just wondering about kids who don’t find a way out. Overwhelming odds, lack of something which brings them to whatever brings some sort of way out - who just internalize it.
Later when they grow up, projecting onto others the bully or the problem, and dedicating themselves to punishing those who now to them, represent the bully.
It’s something like that. Liberals clearly are in large part, about deliberately poking those they do not agree with, in the nose.
It’s the sort of psychic issue, which starts in childhood.
Liberalism isn’t about tolerance.
Liberalism is about revenge.
Now that you mention it - my liberal friends come in 2 categories...the “bleeding heart intellectual”. This type talks down to you in a condescending manner while kindly explaining to you that there is suffering in the world - didn’t you know? Oh that’s right - you’re a conservative, how could you possibly understand.
The other type must be the one you are talking about...class envy, economic envy, status envy, angry angry angry all the time. No matter how good they have it, somebody somewhere has it better than them - and they SHOULDN’T!
The revenge seekers - sometimes they also become your below-average creepy local cop.
Social media has fed a pack mentality among young people like never before. They are exposed to the darkest of the dark displays of abuse and hate. The Left - the ones supposedly in charge of ending bullying - are the biggest intolerant group thinkers and bullies of them all.
I sure wish they could have home schooled this child - at least through middle school. It is a life saving choice sometimes and often makes the difference between a damaged or successful learner. So sad for this child and his family. :(
It is the equivalent of the old writing on the bathroom wall.
There was a story the other day of a NYC teenager who stepped in front of a bus over bullying from a romantic rival.
Word spread about it and someone actually posted on the girls wall (paraphrase) - she threw herself in front of a bus, LMAO!.
What can be done about that type of soul-lessness?
I really don’t know.
We used to take basic decency for granted. Now we are surrounded by evil.
Well, at least he was the beneficiary of the public school system “socialization” that we homeschoolers are always being admonished about missing out on.
I remember middle school. The worst two years of my life.
Please don’t misunderstand this post. The first sentence has an INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH /SARC TAG IMPLIED.
“When a child does not want to go to school, or has social difficulties in school, find another school for them or homeschool them immediately.”
You’re exactly right.
Some kids, through no fault of their own, just wind up friendless. No one wants to eat lunch with them. No one wants to hang out with them after school.
No pep talks about “standing up for yourself” help, because it isn’t a case of “bullies” physically abusing them; the problem is everyone just ignores them.
Most people get through those nightmare years, but some kids at the bottom of the pecking order simply can’t take it. Not to blame this boy’s parents — they probably did okay in school and couldn’t imagine what the problem could be — but all parents should be on the look-out for these kids and get them the hell out of school ASAP — home school, tutors — whatever it takes.
You are right. It always amazes me. If someeone came up to me in work and punched me or even pushed me down, I could have them arrested for assault. Yet when kids punch or push or beat up other kids, there is a tolerance that its all part of growing up. Getting in a fight every once in a while may be part of growing up but daily abuse should not be. A kid should not have to be prepared to fight every day. Especially when you consider that kids at certain ages grow at different rates and some kids are physically small and really can't fight back.
Punching a bully only works if your strong enough to do it again, after the bully kicks the shiat out of you.
If you’re strong enough, doing that one punch would only make it worse.
This story is garnering national attention in the rail and railfan community. At noon today BNSF and UP trains will sound their horns in Cheyenne. Web sites and Facebook pages are discussing his death and how the symptoms of a potential suicide were missed and what can be done to prevent a future occurrence. That the tragedy has affected the local community is an understatement. When you have 200 people attend a police debriefing in the middle of a workday is amazing.
I think it is missing the point to try to analyze from afar whether this person was autistic or gay or whatever, and focus instead on what those of us involved in the hobby can do to recognize what problems young people may have with their peers, and ask, listen, mentor and assist so as to prevent a similar event.
After I am home I will send you a FReepmail, if you don't mind.
One thing not often recognized by the public is that suicide by train is not an uncommon occurrence. For example, multiple deaths occur on the passenger lines in the San Francisco bay area. Often the focus is on the person who died and his/her family. Not so common is the mental anguish felt by the engineer operating the locomotive who can do nothing but watch as a person determined to die steps out in front of a 70 mph speeding locomotive. That sight stays with the engineer and every time he sees a person too close to the tracks he wonders if there will be a repeat event. An accident where a car gets stuck on the tracks, or even someone trying to beat the train to a crossing is one thing; someone determined to die is another. More than one railroader has taken another job after dealing with emotions after one or multiple occurrences.
“Punching a bully only works if your strong enough to do it again, after the bully kicks the shiat out of you. If you’re strong enough, doing that one punch would only make it worse”
That possibility exists, however in the vast majority of cases it seems to work. In most cases bullys are larger/stronger than their victims but it still seems to work. I don’t argue with success.
There’s another sad story about a young teenage girl who threw herself in front of a bus to escape bullying. She was so pretty, too.
We had bullying in high school, too, but nothing like this!
What a tragic story. Oftentimes, bullying tends to be the catchall reason, but it eventually turns out that family life has a lot more to do with the rationale...low self-esteem, depression, ineffectual parenting, etc... Sad.
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