Yes, there has been a lot of media attention to bullying, especially in our schools.
But there is also a reason for that. And that is because bullying consistently exists.
Emilie Grace Olsen was Chinese American, adopted by her U.S. parents, and she killed herself right before this new year, December 11, 2014. She shot herself with a gun.
There is no more clear statement than that. What other bigger statement can you make? She was unhappy (and “unhappy” is obviously a very loose definition, considering she committed suicide).
She was only 13 years old. (That is correct, 13.) She was nine months old when she was adopted and brought from China to Ohio.
Her father, Mark Olsen relentlessly contacted the school in the town of Fairfield Township, about the situation. According to her parents, she was being constantly bullied in school and on social media. There were attempts to change schools, and address the certain students who were bullying her. Social media seems to play a factor.
Emilie was a good student and by all appearances it figures that she was regarded well in her school community, and is perhaps why the school did not consider the parents’ concerns a real problem.
But it was a real problem, and it should have been investigated more.
We can evaluate wrong and right, but when it comes down to it, if her parents’ concerns were fully addressed by the school, there might have been a small form of hope and future instead of tragedy.
There is also one last afterthought—one extra concern.
How did she access that gun to kill herself?
We will save that for another aggravated, frustrated editorial.
And we will hopefully not have to write about more API suicides. (end)