You know I'm a teacher. To be more specific, among other things, I am a teacher who does her best to compaign against bullying. Every year that I have taught, at every school where I have been on staff - higher economic and lower areas - I have seen bullying to be alive and well. I have seen the results, from kids who will not open their mouth in class to say anything, to those who have tried suicide as the only "way out" they could see. I have learned stats. For instance, upward of 20% of elementary school bulllies go on to have a criminal record in adult years. It is an issue that seems to me to be more critical than any other in the classroom. What difference does it make if 2+2=4, if a child is so desperately unhappy every day that they will never remember it? Being bullied often takes away from the victims the possibility to achieve to their fullest potential. The scars from the experience of being a victim sometimes never go away. We have to fight the horrid phenomenon. Where to begin and how to fight are difficult to know without some help. This site is a really good one. Take a minute to look there. Be aware. Even if you don't have kids of your own, you probably have a nephew, a niece, some kid you care about, and you could become the lifeline they need.
Equally as important is the awareness of the net. and the dangers it can pose for kids who are too young, too inexperienced to recognize the traps and pitfalls they will encounter. I say "will" and not "maybe" because it is a written guarantee. All it takes is for a young person to spend some time there, and with each passing hour, the odds spiral upward that this will be the time they first see ... who knows what? A their parents, their aunts & uncles, their grandparents, their friends, you want to have an idea of "what". Another site that will go a long, long way to guiding you and the young people you care about safely through the maze is well worth the visit. In fact, there is so much to be seen there, you may well find yourself returning more than once.
A student of mine told me a couple of years ago that her grandma was always saying "Stand for something or you'll fall for anything." I like it. It's one of the reasons why I searched for and found these sites. I hope you find value in them, too.