Bullying has long since been a serious problem in schools and now another heartbreaking case has just proved that more proactive actions need to be taken to prevent it. Earlier this week, a 12-year-old Latino boy, Joel Morales, committed suicide after being tormented by bullies for years.
Morales, from East Harlem, New York, hung himself on Tuesday and was later found by his mother, Lizbeth Babilionia, in a bathtub with lacerations around his neck. The horrible tragedy occurred after Morales was reportedly mocked because he was both smart and short for his age. Relatives say that his bulliers would even tease him about his father's death, which occurred when Morales was only two years old. His grandfather told the New York Post that kids also "threw sticks at him and rocks."
He also said that Babilonia had repeatedly made complaints to the teacher and even allowed her son to swtich schools, but the incessant bullying never stopped. After discovering her son's death, Babilonia was so devastated that she reportedly tried to cut herself with a knife but was stopped by a neighbor.
Read more ¿Qué más?: How far would you go to defend your daughter from a bully?
The whole incident is so incredibly tragic and horrible. It makes me feel sick to my stomach that a 12-year-old would even consider suicide, let alone act upon the thought. I can't even imagine what his family must be going through, particularly his mother. To realize that someone so young can feel that miserable and lost is a shocking but very real indicative of one of the major problems in school today.
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I hope that Morales' death at least forces officials and administrators to wake up and start paying more attention to the events that are going on in the hallways and classrooms of their schools. Kids need to be protected and every school needs to have much stricter policies on bullying to prevent terrible situations like Morales' from continuing to happen.
Image via Lisbeth Babilonia/facebook
