Hi, my name is Nicole Stacy, age 17 from Kentucky. Bullying is nothing new to me, I've dealt with it since I started school when I was little. I've always been the "outcast", the "stand alone" type person and of course the way that young peoples minds are so set on the idea of perfection makes them aim there hatred towards the "different" ones. It through me into extreme depression and by the 3rd grade I had begun self-harming. And by the 6th grade I attempted to end everything more time than I can count. I slowly started to realize that it wasn't me, its society, the way parents raise their children, neglect to solve the problems at hand. Freshman year for me was really horrid. My health class was full of people that had drove me to the point I wanted to end something as precious as the life that I have. We of course got on the subject of bullying and I noticed something. Those same people that picked on me were laughing. Talking about kids as young as 6 taking their lives due to the exact things they had done to me, and they were laughing. With the permission of my teacher I took a stand. I shared my experience with the class. The depression, anger, self hate, fear, not being able to feel anything, the feeling of empty ness and feeling like your drowning. How it felt to be ashamed of being in your own skin and how it felt to not value your life anymore. Their were people in tears, including the teacher, but then there of course was the few that seemed as if it meant nothing to them. But the most remarkable thing to me is that the person that bullied me the most in middle school walked up to me after class crying g and gave me a hug, a tight embrace at that, and said they were sorry and to this day they have not said another hateful thing about me nor anyone else. My teacher even asked for me to speak to her college classes to get them to open their eyed to bullying. But my parents are ashamed of what I went through and wouldn't let me take a stand. But not anymore I will take a stand. Its not that i want sympathy nor do i want people to look at me as oh they want the attention. Its that i want to make a change and make sure that less people take their lives over something as sad as bullying. I refuse to let anyone feel alone in this world.