There has been another "bullying" death

reported in this morning's paper. 
It has come along with reports of the increasingly worrying tension between North Korea and the United States. The leaders of both those countries are bullies...and I would say the same thing about the current Prime Minister here as well as the Leader of the Opposition. I suspect it is how some people get to the top. They bully other people.
School bullying would appear to be an increasing problem. It is said that it is easier now, that the use of things like social media have made it easier. Yes, that is part of the problem. 
Another part of the problem is that students are being made much more aware of it as an issue. There are "anti-bullying" programs. There are "safe-school" programs, "cultural diversity awareness" programs - and more.  I sometimes wonder whether these aren't having an opposite effect to the one intended. 
And it also seems that, because of these programs, some adults seem to believe the problem no longer exists. 
A couple of years ago I was talking to someone in the local shopping centre. Her son had just started at the local high school. He is a quiet, studious boy. He comes from a quiet, studious family. Suddenly school was living hell for him. He was being bullied. His lunch was taken from him and stamped into the ground. He was shoved head first into the toilet bowl and the toilet was flushed. His shirts were torn off. His other belongings were scattered and broken.
The school took the attitude that "the students know bullying is wrong. We have an anti-bullying program. If you say any more it will just get worse for your son."
I wonder how many other parents have been told the same thing? I wonder how many other students have been told the same thing too? How many students are simply saying nothing because they are too afraid to speak up?
We have seen the same sort of thing in the media recently - particularly over the "same-sex marriage" debate. People who have spoken out against it  have been threatened and, in some instances, their families have been targetted as well. Whatever you believe about the issue that is wrong.  
The parents of the boy in question ended up withdrawing him from the school. He eventually went to another school where the head arranged for several other students to watch out for him but the experience in the first secondary school has almost certainly marked him for life. His parents are still worried about him although they try not to show it. 
Last week a slightly older group of teens I know invited him to join their group on an outing. He doesn't knit the way they do but he makes the most exquisite paper models. They were going to do a demonstration of their varied skills and they said he should join them. It took a bit of persuasion but he went to the event and showed much younger children how to do some simple origami. He also worked on one of his more complex designs. His mother tells me he came home and actually talked to her about what he had done. That's a huge leap forward. He's been invited to go again and told them that, subject to parental approval, he will.
But it shouldn't have taken that. He should have a group of friends his own age who can appreciate that he's just a little bit different and very skilled in his own way. So yes, I still feel concerned for him as well.
I wonder whether people ever think of the potential consequences when they bully, when they make unkind remarks. What if this boy had ended up bullying those who were bullying him? Would we  be on the brink of another war here in the suburbs?