Phoebe Nora Mary Prince
1994-2010
On January 14, 2010, Phoebe's life ended tragically and as a result of bullying. This beautiful girl was talented and gifted and loved by so many. Tomorrow would have been her 16th birthday but thanks to the harsh words of people who barely knew her, her life was snuffed out like the flame of a candle.
What gives kids the right to make ANYONE feel they are of a lesser worth?
What gives ANYONE the right to create a life of torment for someone?
What is so torturous in your own life that you need to drive someone so far into depression that they take their own life?
Information in quotes found @ slate.com:
"One week last October, Bill Evans, the assistant principal of South Hadley High School in Massachusetts, chose two students to read public service announcements over the loudspeaker as part of the school's participation in National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week. In selecting kids to read the PSAs, Evans thought about who would be a spokesperson that other kids would believe was speaking sincerely. He chose Sean Mulveyhill, a senior and star of the football team. "He was a natural selection—the kind of kid who would seek out someone having difficulty just to help him," Evans says.
In his PSA, Sean laid out four steps that victims of cyberbullying can take: Don't return nasty texts or IMs. Make copies of them. Set up filters to block the bully from sending more. Talk to a caring adult. Sean's message ended: "Remember that when you are targeted by a person or group of people, whether online or face-to-face, you are not alone and you can take action to make it stop."
"Sean read it. I think he meant it," Evans says."
Sean is one of the students charged with not only bullying but rape in Phoebe's case.
"About two hours before she died, Phoebe texted with the boy she'd sat with that day in the library. In one of several messages that speak to her feelings of desperation, she wrote: "I cant do it anymore … im literally hme cryn, my scar on my chest is potentially permanent, my bodies fukd up wht mre du they want frm me? Du I hav to fukn od!" The boy wrote back, reassuring her that he would talk to Sean and Ashley and make them stop. "Who cares what other people think phoebe I know you're a good person," he wrote.
At home in her bedroom, Phoebe plugged in her cell phone to recharge it, perhaps because she hadn't entirely absorbed what she was about to do. Soon after, she hung herself in the stairwell with a black scarf woven with multicolor thread. Her sister had given it to her. After Phoebe's death, the police found several of her drawings. One of them shows a human figure with a noose around the neck. In a note drawn as if it was pinned to the body, Phoebe asked for forgiveness."
Please take a moment of silence to honor Phoebe and all the others who have lost their lives to bullying. Make a promise to yourself and to those for whom it's too late to NEVER use your words for hate and to ALWAYS report someone who does. Don't let Phoebe's death be in vain!
Happy SWEET 16, Phoebe!
