Comments about ‘Classmates gather to mourn loss of Bennion Junior High student who took his own life’

Deepest condolences to Brandon's family and friends. Tell us about the Brandon you know and love.

My deepest condolances to the friends and famiy he left behind. My heart especially goes out to his friends that witnessed it. That's something no one should ever have to see. May God be with you all!

Sad...No Words just tears..

Very sad. My heart goes out to the boy's family, and the kids who were forced to witness this terrible event, and the whole school.

Isn't there a risk of contagion for something like this? I know students need to process this somehow, and I'm not sure what the alternative is, but by sending out mass invitations and congregating to memorialize this boy in this way, right at the place of suicide no less, aren't we inviting more kids who feel marginalized to consider seeking their own moment of recognition and acceptance in the same way? It worries me.

One thing parents should do is sit down their kids and talk to them about the problems of bullying. No one wants someone to take their life, but bullying goes on everyday at every school, and the awareness needs to be elevated.

Sad story, my prayers go out to the young man who took his life and his family and peers.

This is too sad for words. I have no idea why Brandon felt there was no hope for him in this world but I do know that the culture in Utah tacitly endorses bullying of a certain orientation. Hopefully, parents can look within themselves and stop hateful, hurtful words that kids feel justified in using.

Sad, quite sad! My condolences to this student's (victim's) family!

By the way, Brandon? Is that his name and therefore a coincidence with the Brandon in the article? Or are we just not reading the article well?

Re: "He was nice to everyone, even if sometimes people weren't nice to him," said Bennion ninth-grader Brandon Newby."

The only people who have no problem with bullying are the people raising bullies. They deny the problem exists as to be in denial of their bad parenting.

A while back, my manager told me a story about his son being fined $50.00 for bullying. He went on to tell me that his son was misunderstood by the principal. In fact, he told me that his son was just trying to help. As I listened to my manager tell me this story I couldn’t help but think about the many passive aggressive methods my manager had cultivated and used to bully everyone around him for many years. I was sickened to think that bullies raise bullies. A bully is someone with deep rooted personal and psychological problems. Bullies find people they can victimize and they cause the same type of damage to their victims that we see associated with sexually related crimes. For instance, guilt, self blame, and shame. The shame imposed on the victim is preventing them from reporting additional instances of being bullied and they suffer in silence. My thoughts and prayer go out to this young man’s family.