I lost a very good friend. We were mostly friends from afar but I knew her quite well. She always had a problem facing her weight. She wore a coat all the time to hide herself. I could see this, but I could not understand why.

Finally one day I saw a kid making fun of her and calling her "fatso" and saying "Hey look! There's an elephant! Hey, is that your cousin?" It was always followed by laughter.

Because of her size, she was always picked last for teams. Her mother always participated for her school, Girl Scouts, baseball, anything she wanted. Her mother was never thanked. I felt so horribly for this girl and her mom.

On November 24, 2001 she and her father were killed in a car accident. Her mother, who was injured, was sent to a medical center and had to have her legs amputated.

Today there is a memorial bulletin with lots of her pictures on it and much more. We all tried to do our best for this girl...but it was never enough. Her weight and children making fun of her were too much to bear. She will never know how much some of us miss her and really did care about her.

If you are one of those kids who always make fun of other kids, think about this girl. This is happening all over America. Smart, beautiful girls are having a miserable life because some kids need it too much to put these girls down to make themselves feel better. It hurts as a bystander. Think of how it really must hurt for them.