No clue what to title this... it's just.... Sad

My oldest has a Facebook account. I watch it regularly. I read his texts, and I log in as him and watch his news feed. I've caught him sexting and sending/receiving nude images and  I have taken immediate action on it for both him, and the young women involved. Some say this is an invasion of privacy, but I see it as protecting my child. I'm protecting him from the actions of others, but I'm also protecting him from the negative consequences his own actions may have. Kids don't think long term. They only think about the here and now.

Anyway, last night, I logged in to do a fast check on him. What I found really broke my heart and made me feel for the future of this world.

A young woman, high school age, (possibly a very recent graduate) had sent intimate pictures to a young man, also high school age. (I have no doubt that there was some manipulation involved there!) The young man (not my boy) then sent these pictures to his girlfriend. Do you know what she did?

The girlfriend then posted these images to Facebook. She tagged all of her friends, and all of the victim's friends as well. Have you seen the friends lists these high schoolers have? Every single person that the original person knows, is related to, etc, if they are on her friends list on FB, they've now seen her pictures.

Can you imagine? Your friends, family, coworkers, bosses, etc, seeing those types of images of you?

But wait.. there's more.

So girl number 1 calls the girlfriend and asks her to remove the pictures. She begs her to please, please please remove the pictures. Know what the girlfriend did? She recorded the call. Then used that as ammunition as well. Started laughing at the first girl for begging.

The things this young woman, her friends, and her boyfriend said and did to the first girl make me shiver. The outright cruelty... You're parents. If you had seen it, you would have immediately imagined your kid as the victim and the spidey senses would have gone out. As a mother, it was all I could do to not bust out into tears. I read as these people told the girl that she was fat, that they'd rather "tap" someone that was homeless, living out of Pizza Hut's dumpster than to be with her, how she was worthless and deserved homelessness, etc.

I called the police and Sherrif's department in the hopes that they could visit with the woman and her parents and get her to remove the images. They can't do a single thing. At all. The only way that they can take action is if the victim presses charges. And that is her right. If she were my kid, or if it were me, damn straight I would!

The girl shouldn't have sent intimate pictures of herself to a young person that she was not in a relationship with. We've all done something similarly as stupid when we were young. The consequences now are so much bigger than when we were kids.

As for the girlfriend, she brought dishonor to herself and her entire family with her cruel actions last night. But we don't teach our kids about that anymore, do we? We don't teach our kids that their actions reflect on the entire family. We don't teach them how their actions can bite them in the butt months down the road, or how it can have a negative impact on family members not related to the situation.

I guess this wasn't so much of a dilemna was it? It's just a very sad fact. A fact that needs to be shared with parents and children everywhere. Cyber bullying is real, and it destroys real lives. Watch your kids online and teach them to not participate in this kind of crap. The punishment did not fit the crime.

And for the sakes of your kids and future grand kids, please raise them to be better than this!

Cyber bullying is real. It's real and it does some horrible damage. This isn't some kid pushing another down at the playground. It isn't a few kids being mean to another kid. This is an entire life trashed.

People yell and scream a lot about "bullies." Most acts of bullying don't come close to this extreme, but how many of those same people will say the girl brought it on herself?

I was bullied as a kid. I rose up despite of it and it made me into a better, stronger person. Most "bullies" have that effect. It makes the victim stronger and less likely to wilt when life gets hard. But with that type of bullying, the idea isn't to destroy another person completely. With that type of bullying, it's just a matter of one person trying to make another feel badly so they can feel good.

But, this type.. the type here... this is different. This isn't trying to make someone feel bad. This is trying to make someone feel worthless. This is trying to destroy everything they have, all of their relationships, all of EVERYTHING. One person even told the girl she should just go ahead and kill herself now.

They aren't pushing her down on the playground. They aren't laughing at her with a few friends. This... this is why I watch my kids so closely. As parents, this is what we should be watching for, and teaching against.