It is never okay

B U L L Y I N G    T O D A Y    I S    L E T H A L
Lizzie Velaquez partners with HeyUGLY.org's It Is Never Okay CampaignHeadlines point to emails, texts and taunts from bullies telling their victims:  “go kill yourself.” Some even go so far as to say:  “Why don’t you get a rope, tie it around your neck and go hang yourself because everyone at school hates you.” or  “Why don’t you climb on top of the water tower, jump off and kill yourself because no one likes you and you should be dead.”    SHOCKING???
Heck yeah it is! We are loosing more and more students to suicide and it needs to stop. 
Lizzie Velaquez was told to kill herself by cyberbullies who called her the world’s ugliest woman. At first she thought of taking her own life, then she decided the bullies should not win so she stood up to them.  Watch Lizzie and be inspired

PLEASE JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN TO HELP STOP THIS INSANITY. HERE’S HOW:

FIRST:  Join this Campaign. Get your friends together and video tape them reciting the pledge listed below. Email the MP4 to PreventBullyingNow@heyugly.org. Please list the names of everyone in the video and where they appeared, ie; first, second, third.  We will do our best to include you and your friends in the montage we will be making and sharing online. Let’s all stand together to stop this insanity.

SECOND: Have an open discussion in school and at home about why it is never okay to tell someone to kill themselves. Most parents don’t know that this is happening in our schools. We can mobilize them to take action. There are lawsuits pending stating the action of telling someone to go kill themselves is ground for involuntary manslaughter.

THIRD:  Help this campaign go viral by spreading the word to everyone you know – students, parents, educators. Let’s join together to make sure this never happens again.

HERE IS THE PLEDGE:    “IT IS NEVER OKAY to tell someone to kill themselves. How would you like it if someone told you or one of your friends or family member to kill themselves? How would you feel if the person you told to kill themselves actually did take their life? IT IS NEVER OKAY! “

Take a selfie video of yourself saying the pledge and email the MP4 to PreventBullyingNow@heyugly.org  for a compilation video we are making. Include as many friends as you like in the video. Just make sure each person is saying the pledge alone and not in a group. We’ll do our best to make sure you are included in the final video which we will be debuting on YouTube.

 

BRIGHT IDEA:  Here’s an idea from a high school student we worked with in San Marcos, Texas. He was responding to a girl who told our group she was being told by bullies to go kill herself. He suggested she make a t-shirt that says I’M STILL HERE. He told her, “When you see the person who told you to kill yourself, just look them in the eye and, while pointing at your shirt, proudly say ‘I’m still here.’ Do not lose your power to someone being mean to you. Don’t do it!”

Lizzie is an inspiration whose story is being told in a new movie called, A BRAVE HEART (click picture to watch trailer).  Make sure you see it. Everyone at Hey U.G.L.Y. loves this movie and we plan to share it with as many students as possible. We hope you will too.


REMEMBERIf you are being taunted by a bully, maybe you are going through all of this pain so you can grow up and help kids who are feeling this way too. Who better to help a person in need than someone who has actually gone through it?  Make sure you tell someone what is happening. Nine out of ten times the person you are talking to has gone through it too. We all keep this kinda of situation a secret because, on some level, we feel guilty and ashamed. We think everyone is thinking these terrible things about us. First, they are not, second if they are that’s their loss. YOU are amazing and YOU will get through this. Look at all the celebrities who have been cyberbullied and told to go kill themselves. They made it through and so can you. We know be IN IT is awful, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Just picture yourself a year from now if you are in that pain. It will get better. Just watch the Lizzie videos and especially her movie. You will never allow anyone to bully you ever again if you watch it.

Check out Hey U.G.L.Y.’s intensive web page on Bullying by clicking here.  If you are in pain click here for helplines.