One need only search the internet to find cases of bullycide and cry at the thought of all of these children who took their own life because a schoolmate decided they were the right target for bullying.

You will not only be shocked at the number of bullycide cases, but become angry and saddened over the loss of these young children because of the malicious and insidious way in which they became bullycide victims.

One of the very first recognized bullycide victims was named Steven Shepherd. You can read about him in Tim Field and Neil Marr’s book, "Death at Playtime."

• Yorkshire: Twelve-year-old Debbie Shaw agrees to a challenge by other girls to end her bullying and victimisation by fighting the school bully. She died of her injuries.

• Thirteen-year-old Roger Hillyard found dead near his home after a lifetime of bullying.

• Sisters Samantha and Michaela Kendal are so taunted and bullied about their overweight they go on hunger strike both died.

• Burton-upon-Trent: Fifteen-year-old choirboy Darren Steele is found hanged in his bedroom after a life of bullying and victimisation at school.

• West Midlands: Twelve-year-old schoolboy Stephen Woodhall hanged himself with his brother’s school tie rather than face bullying by the school bullies for another day. "He must have been going through hell," his father, Ken, said. Later, forty-seven-year-old Kenneth Woodhall also hanged himself. He had never got over the hanging suicide five years earlier of his son Stephen.

Also covered in Neil Marr and Tim Field’s book Bullycide: death at playtime: an exposé of child suicide caused by bullying…

• In September 1997, 13-year-old Salvation Army girl Kelly Yeomans took a fatal overdose after months of tormenting and bullying. Her bullies were given a slap on the wrist.

• Isle of Lewis: In February 1996 Katherine Jane Morrison, 16, takes a fatal overdose after horrendous bullying.

Among these bullycide cases is one in particular of a young boy of 13 years who hung himself in his home. "Death at Playtime" reveals a passage from his diary and his feelings about being bullied. While reading this passage will leave you in tears.

All the bullycide victims and their stories all have one thing in common – they were relentlessly tormented by a school bully. As you read the bullycide cases, you may not only be thinking about the mothers and fathers of these children, but you may also wonder why more isn’t being done to stop it.

Children are our most precious resource, and they should be taken care of by our educational system, parents, and professionals. Bullycide is a pandemic, and it seems to be getting worse. While many countries are implementing new procedures and ways to alleviate and rid bullying from schools, statistically speaking our children are taking their own lives at an alarming rate.

These cases of bullycide are indicative of what’s wrong with our society in particular and our global community in general. Intolerance of others, their race and ethnicity, their religion and culture seems to be at the heart of the matter. Bullies are children who hurt other children because they need to feel in control and have power over others. Where does this process begin? Unfortunately, in most cases, it evolves in the home environment.

If we, as a society, cannot tolerate each other for who we are, then how will our children cope with the contradiction? How can we possibly teach tolerance when we dismantle the personalities of those who we consider unworthy? How can we make such a judgment without it affecting the children?

If you truly want to understand the reasons why children commit suicide caused by bullying, read the cases of bullycide online and in the book "Death at Playtime." Then run, don’t walk to your children, and hug them hard and long.