First, if you haven’t yet, take 9 min­utes and watch the video below.

Direct link to video

As you are likely aware, Amanda com­mit­ted sui­cide last week — a month after post­ing the video.

It’s impor­tant to watch to be aware of the strug­gle kids have against bul­lies but also for par­ents to be aware of what their kids can be exposed to online and to have open dis­cus­sions about the tech they are using. This isn’t just bul­ly­ing — it’s black­mail and sex­ual harassment.

And as much as you should be wor­ried about your kid being bul­lied — more par­ents need to be edu­cated about the fact that their kids could very well be the bully at their school. Read­ing Amanda’s story, it’s hard not to get angry at the thought of par­ents of the other kids not step­ping in and dis­ci­pling their kids for their actions and teach­ing them about apol­o­giz­ing and seek­ing forgiveness.

CBC’s Jian Gomeshi devoted his open­ing essay on Monday’s show to Amanda and bul­ly­ing which prompted me to try and find Amanda’s orig­i­nal video and post it here.