By Kyle Siegel
Staff writer
Bullying, either in person or on the internet, has become an epidemic in the United States, and Tina Meier hopes to make a difference by touring the country giving presentations about the effects of bullying.
Tina Meier with the Megan Meier Foundation was on hand Thursday morning at Northwest High School speaking to 6th, 7th and 8th graders from La Monte, Green Ridge and Hughesville.
Meier’s daughter Megan took her own life after being cyber-bullied on Myspace on Oct. 17, 2006.
Tina Meier spoke at length with the children, explaining her own loss and the dangers of bullying.
“I started the foundation not because it was my life-long goal, but because of the tragedy in my family. It is what I do now,” Meier said.
Tina’s daughter Megan was diagnosed with depression and ADD in third grade.
“Megan would not stand up for herself, but she would stand up for others. She hated it when people would make fun of people with disabilities,” Meier explained.
She added, “When Megan entered 7th grade, she felt like the fattest, ugliest kid in school. Behind her in the lunch room boys would call her a fat cow and an elephant.
“I told her just to ignore them. Most of the time we are told to turn the other cheek. That was what we are always told.
“Ignoring it most of the time does not work. It will not stop unless you stand up for yourself and use your voice,” Meier explained.
During her time in middle school, Megan was made fun of in gym.
“Megan used to beg me to sign her out of gym,” Meier said.
Tina took Megan out of public school and was sent to a private school for her 8th grade year.
“She came home from school and asked for a Myspace page. I told Megan that I needed to think about it,” Meier said.
Tina finally relented and allowed Megan to create a Myspace page, but with some restrictions.
“The first rule was that Megan didn’t have her password. We installed a program to monitor instant messages.
“About three weeks in she got a friend request from this boy named Josh. I let her befriend him. Josh told her that she was beautiful and had a beautiful smile.
“They talked about a lot of different things, and they continued to talk for five weeks.
“One day Megan received a message from Josh that said “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I’ve heard that you are not very nice to your friends,” Meier said.
Megan continued to receive hurtful messages.
“The messages were cruel and mean. The nicest of the comments were Megan Meier is a w**** and Megan Meier is a fat a**.
“The words that were coming hurt her to the core,” Meier said.
On the day that Megan committed suicide, she was on Myspace and was still receiving cruel and hurtful messages. Megan called her mother and told her that the kids were being mean to her.
Tina told Megan to sign off. Tina proceeded to tell her daughter to sign off on multiple occasions.
After returning home Tina went to the computer and was upset with Megan for the responses she had made to the kids.
“I am so aggravated at you for doing this,” Tina said.
As Megan ran upstairs she told her Mom “You’re supposed to be my mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!”
One the way upstairs Megan ran into her father Ron, who upon hearing what had happened, told her “I told her it’s OK. I told her that they obviously don’t know her. And that it would be fine,” he said.
After 20 minutes Tina got a bad feeling.
“I had this God-awful feeling and I ran up into her room and she had hung herself in the closet,” Tina explained.
Megan Meier died the next day at the hospital.
Tina explained to the group of students that Josh was actually three people.
One was a 13-year-old former friend of Megan, another was an 18-year-old female, and the last person was a 46-year-old woman.
It was found out that the Myspace page was created for the sole purpose of communicating with Meier’s daughter.
The fake male profile was aimed at gaining Megan’s confidence and finding out what Megan felt about the 46-year-old woman’s daughter and other people.
No charges were brought against any of the people who were responsible for the Myspace page.
During the presentation, Tina Meier showed a clip from the Dr. Phil show that was about Megan and the entire situation that led to her taking her own life.
Meier proceeded to explain the different types of bullying that are common place amongst youth.
Meier also explained the dangers of posting private information on the internet. She explained that predators can use the information to harm or harass people.
Meier explained to the students what to do if people are bullying them on the internet.
“Do not retaliate. Respond only after you have had a chance to calm down, block the user, and save evidence. Tell an adult,” she said.
Meier was asked if it is still hard to give presentations to various groups.
“It is easier to be able to contain my emotions. In the beginning it devastated me,” she said.
Meier added, “If I do several presentations in a day, it still drains me. Knowing that we are making changes certainly helps.”
For more information about Megan’s story and the Megan Meier Foundation, people may visit www.meganmeierfoundation.org.
The mission statement for the Megan Meier Foundation is “Bringing awareness, education and promote positive change to children, parents and educators in response to the ongoing bullying and cyberbullying in our children’s daily environment.” Photos by Kyle Siegel, Sedalia News Journal.
