It's now six days after 15-year-old
Amanda Todd took her own life after enduring years of abuse from both students at her school and an unknown person online.
She posted an eight minute video on Youtube. You couldn't see her eyes and she held up dozens of white cards that she flipped to explain how sad, alone and worthless she felt.
Was she bullied though?
When it comes to the girls that beat her up, forced her to drink bleach and then admonished her because she didn't get the right brand- absolutely.
This however is to the person that asked the then 13 year-old to flash her breasts when she was online and then took a picture and allegedly haunted her for years afterwards - you aren't a bully.
You are a monster, plain and simple.
To call you a bully would be akin to calling a cyclone a gust of wind.
You should be insulted when called a meagre bully, when in reality your sense of kindness and compassion is nil.
You need to be stopped - now. Because if you've done this once, you've done it twice.
This is to the girls who haunted Amanda and maybe even pushed her to suicide - there are no words that adequately explain the shame you have brought to all girls, to your family, to your school and to yourselves.
Even if you are the biggest mean girl in the school, this tragedy is affecting you.
Tap into that hurt and sit with it - because that is the only way you'll learn that gravity of your words and your actions.
To all the other kids that witnessed the abuse and harassment of Amanda Todd, step up and speak out.
Tell someone - anyone - if you ever witness or hear about someone being tortured.
Tell a teacher, a counsellor, a parent, a sibling, the crossing guard - whoever, but don't shut up until someone hears you and takes action.
Governments can create task forces and discuss among themselves how to best handle the bullying epidemic, but what do they know? For most people in government, it's been (several) decades since they were in high school, and the landscape has changed a lot.
For one, now if a child is having a difficult time in school, the act of simply changing schools won't provide as much distance from the bullies that it once did, because they can always Facebook you, Twitter you, Tumblr you, the list goes on and on.
As one of Amanda's cards read: "I can never get that photo back. It's out there forever."
We have social media to thank for that.
You make one mistake, trust the wrong person, choose to do the wrong thing and it will haunt you like a monster under the bed
forever.
There is also something to be said about the hyper-sexualization of young girls that is
becoming more and more commonplace.
Take a look at a 13-year-old these days.
They are much different creatures than we all were.
They are makeup wearing, smooth-talking vamps in little girls bodies', taking pole dancing classes and watching endless TV shows about pageants for kids as young as two years old. Not to mention that assortment of Hallowe'en costumes available for trick or treaters these days that for $14.99 can turn a nurse into a over-sexed tart.
To the person that was the monster in her short life story: It's unfortunate that you chose to continue the cycle of abuse instead of put an end to it, because it's clear that you have dealt with your share of monsters.
You have to stop and if you can't stop yourself then the authorities will do that for you.
What happened to girl power and standing up for your friends?
The sadness and desperate cry for help in her videos weren't heard until it was too late has trumped the Major League Baseball playoffs, Syria and a slough of other news that's
happening all around the world.
So, on Friday night, when a vigil is planned in Amanda's memory, let's all light a candle and remember not only this beautiful girl, but that no one heard her when she was begging for help.
-- Associate editor Ashley MacDonald
