The letter from Diego, the 11-year-old boy who committed suicide after being a victim of bullying
Bullying or bullying is a widespread phenomenon in Spanish schools , although many teachers and parents do not know about the suffering of the victim until it is too late.
And it is that the verbal attacks and psychological and even physical aggressions that extend over time and that seriously harm the person who suffers them, are not always openly manifested by it, turning this suffering into something internal.
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Diego González, a victim of bullying who decided to commit suicide
The discomfort coexists with the person from the moment he gets up until he goes to bed and sometimes causes decisions as fatal as that of little Diego, a boy of only 11 years who could not stand this Calvary more and decided to take his own life . Leaving his parents and those who knew him marked forever.
In his farewell letter, Diego González tried to get his parents to understand his situation, and asked them to "someday hate him a little less" for what he did, because "he could not bear to go to school and this was the only way not to go " Bullying is devastating for some people, and little Diego is an example.
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I could not stand the suffering anymore
Diego's case shocked Spanish society . The events occurred on October 14, 2015, when the child, fed up with bullying, decided to throw himself into the void from the fifth floor of his family home in Leganés (Madrid).
According to Diego's mother, Carmen González , to the newspaper The worldWhen he realized that his son was not in the room he began to worry and "to look like crazy for the whole house." Then he saw in the back of the kitchen, the open screen, he approached and ... he appreciated his shadow in Diego had thrown himself into the void because he could not live longer in this situation, he could not stand another day.
In the newspaper itself, Carmen explains that on the windowsill of her home, where her son threw himself into the void, he found a message that said: "Look at Lucho" (his doll). In it they found a notebook in which Diego told the reasons that had led him to suicide.
The sad letter of suicide
In the following image you can read the sad farewell letter by Diego González:
In the text, Diego makes it clear that he could not stand the emotional pain that bullying was causing him and that is why he decided to take his own life. Along the lines, he asks his parents to forgive him someday and "hate him a little less". And he hopes that "they can meet in heaven."
With this letter, the parents asked that this controversial case be reopened, and the Community of Madrid expressed that it would open again an administrative investigation with a new school inspector. The court also reopened the case to clarify the facts that led this child to commit suicide.
More cases of suicide due to bullying
Diego's case reminds us that Bullying must be detected as soon as possible to avoid major consequences .
But this young man is not the only case of school bullying that ends in tragedy. In fact, last August 15, 2016, an American boy of only 13 years, made the same decision as Diego, and his older sister found his body lifeless on the roof. Daniel Fitzpatrick He had suffered numerous episodes of bullying in Staten Island (New York, United States).
One of the first cases of suicide by bullying in Spain is the young Jokin, who at age 14 decided to end his life after years of abuse and harassment in his school in the town of Hondarribia.
The psychological damage to people who are victims of bullying can accompany them throughout their lives. A study carried out by King's College London (2014) states that The negative psychological effects suffered by people with bullying can remain for 40 years after of having been victims of harassment and bullying. What shows the seriousness of the psychological and emotional consequences on the victims of this phenomenon.
Some psychological consequences of bullying are:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Somatic disorders
- Socialization problems
- Suicide
Causes of bullying
There are many causes (personal, family or school) that can lead a harasser to exercise this type of violence on classmates.The investigations seem to indicate that There may be more risk of bullying in larger schools, due to the difficulty in monitoring .
Personal factors can also cause cases of bullying, because the low self-esteem of the harasser can lead him to want to feel superior to the harassed. Finally, family models influence the behavior of the harassers, because the harassers who have lived with an aggressive father model are more likely to exercise this type of violence.
The success of the KiVa program to eradicate the bullying of educational centers
When we hear about these cases of suicide due to bullying, we usually ask ourselves: "Are things being done well to prevent this kind of phenomena in schools? Unfortunately, not all schools apply the same school bullying prevention policies. However, most Spanish centers should take note of the KiVA program , a method that is being applied successfully in Finland.
In this country, the program is being applied in 90% of the basic education and Its success is such that it has become an essential tool to assess and eradicate bullying in schools.
To learn more about the KiVa program, visit our article: "The KiVa method, an idea that is ending bullying"
