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 ...
Getting serious, this is a very tragic story. But it will be further capitalized on by the homofascists for their own ends, which makes it even more tragic.
It is very hard for autistic people or those with Asperger's Syndrome to open up and talk to people. If only this boy had...I'm sure his family is heartbroken.
I can’t stand it.
I know.
I didn’t see any reference to anything “gay”.
Granted...the knee jerk reaction is always “bullying”.
In this story, that appears to be true.
The problem is...after all the “training” - and demands for this or that to be done by adults and kids?
The nature of bullying is that it is done on the sly.
And if you are bullied and go tell an adult? It gets worse.
If you are a bystander and report bullying? Then you start getting bullied.
Bullying is not new - it has not changed - when they taught kids that defending themselves would get in trouble, the problem got worse.
Many bullies stop when they get their own medicine fed back to them - kids aren’t taught this either, unless their parents teach them.
The problem is also worse now because of cell phones and internet. When we were kids we went home and had a break.
It is round the clock for the kids today.
You are so right about that.
School anti-bullying initiatives are usually focused on protecting gays but in this case it may not be. Too bad he didn’t learn that the secret to stopping a bully is a punch in the mouth.
Neither did I, yet these threads always are an excuse for some to rant and rave about anti-bullying programs being used to promote homosexuality. Its sad.
This is a story about a 13 year old boy, who appears from that picture to be small, who was teased and perhaps bullied. He was obsessed with trains and had an "encyclopedic" knowledge of them so if anything, he may have been slightly autistic. I can easily imagine a small, autistic boy being bullied.
But putting that aside, the message that people should get out of this story is the human tragedy of a sweet 13 year old being that upset and depressed that he kills himself. Not looking for a political agenda.
That’s so true.
Was bullied in middle school by one guy in particular.
One day the bully - probably twice my size - was giving me grief and saw he was getting my goat, and dared me to hit him.
So I did, first time in my life. Right smack in the face. He started going for me, and another of the upperclass larger dudes who had been watching, stopped him.
Never had a problem with the guy, or any other bully after that.
I think most kids need to do something like that at least once growing up.
No way around it.
What a tragic, heartbreaking waste.
If any parent believes his kid is being bullied in school, do yourself and him a favor - send him for martial arts training. It might have saved his life by giving him the physical ability to fight back and the self confidence to believe in himself.
As for the schools, they should treat bullying the way they treat the gun issue - and THAT they do with far less justification and carry to absurb extents.
Absolutely. Thank you, sweetheart...I am writing this through tears. This one really got to me.
So I did, first time in my life. Right smack in the face.
The most effective way to deal with a bully. Period.
Too bad the no tolerance policies have effectively made schools victim rich environments. If a victim punches back, they will be caught and probably expelled. They are then sent to the hard case school where the more violent kids are housed.
I was bullied without mercy at home by an older sister.
I credit her with giving me the ability to deal with bullies at school.
She was so bad at home - that I would actually laugh at anyone that tried it at school.
“But putting that aside, the message that people should get out of this story is the human tragedy of a sweet 13 year old being that upset and depressed that he kills himself. Not looking for a political agenda.”
Very true.
Our culture has become very vulgar and aggressive.
Sweet souls like this get chewed right up.
I wonder whether there’s any relationship between having somehow successfully resolved incidents like this during childhood, and conservatism as an adult.
Or more precisely, a relationship between a childhood in which such incidents were (not) dealt with, and liberalism later, seeking to lord over others - in revenge.
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.
The Lord of the Flies mentality in most schools coupled with indifferent teachers and staff, can lead to enormous suffering, especially for those who are different. Autistic kids can have it very hard in school. Worked with a family which ignored my warning, child attempted, better ending though, misfire caused little damage.
I remember one small, Jewish kid who was bullied so badly in my school that he looked terrified when he sat in his seat in one class that had the bullies in it. He really couldn’t fight back. The bullies were huge kids and there were several. He was very small and shy and awkward looking. The teacher stopped them when he saw it but they were relentless. Looking back its a shame that some of us didn’t get together and stop the bullies. None of us liked them but we were too passive and didn’t want the hassle.
I just have that kid’s image in my head still — at times absolutely terrified to be in class.
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