If I could go back and give my thirteen year old self some advice, the main thing I'd tell him would be to stick his head up and look around. I didn't really gr

If I could go back and give my thirteen year old self some advice, the main thing I'd tell him would be to stick his head up and look around. I didn't really grasp it at the time, but the whole world we lived in was as fake as a Twinkie. Not just school, but the entire town. I think there's some effort now being put into trying to reach kids who are trapped and miserable in the school hierarchy, and letting them know that this little world is not the real world. This, in essence, is what the It Gets Better Project is aiming for, and I think it's the gist of a lot of anti-bullying efforts. I think there's only so much you can do to stop bullies themselves -- their behavior seems largely sociopathic. But maybe you can stop other kids from being complicit, including the ones who are targets of bullying. If the victim understands that the bully is only king of an anthill, that robs them of some of their power.