As quoted below in reaction to this terrible tragedy, Charles St.-Onge -- associate pastor at Memorial Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas -- wrote a column for the Belief supplement of the Houston Chronicle (dated October 1, 2010).
BULLYING brings grief on all involved
AFTER reading the story of 13-year-old Asher Brown, I felt compelled to write something. As a Christian I know there is no act that grieves our Lord's heart more than the act of bullying. It is an act that shows the human propensity to gratify ourselves at the expense of others; to hate justice except when it favors us; to show kindness only when it serves our own purposes (Micah 6:8).
More important, I felt compelled to write because I once was Asher Brown. I had an awkward childhood, made more difficult by our family's frequent moves on account of my father's work. I was terrible at sports; I was active in my church; I got straight A's, and I had a hard time fitting in socially. At Asher's age, I was declared gifted and removed once a week from my regular school to attend special classes elsewhere. In other words, I was the perfect target for bullies. The only names I was called that I have never forgotten were "gay" and "homo." I had no "girlfriend" -- what else could I be?
I grieve for Asher's parents, who are suffering a grief that is the nightmare of any parent. I grieve for the teachers and administrators who, despite the official line being taken, knew what was going on and couldn't -- or chose not -- to stop it.
I also grieve for those bullies who went along with the crowd, knowing deep down inside themselves that they should be stopping this, or at least not participating in it. I grieve for them if they do not know where to turn in repentance, where to turn to find someone who can help them shoulder a burden they will carry for the rest of their lives (1 Timothy 1:13-16).
I grieve most for anyone who bullied Asher and carried the name of Christian.
Tony Campolo, the sociologist and sometimes Baptist preacher, often recounts the story of a high school classmate named Roger:
"We ridiculed him ... We made his life hell ... When he would go into the shower after gym, we would wait until he came out, and then we would whip our towels at him and sting him. I wasn't there the day they pushed him into the corner of the shower and five guys urinated all over him. That night he went to the attic in the middle of the night and hanged himself. And I knew I wasn't a Christian, because if I had been a Christian I would have stood up for Roger. Even if they ridiculed me for doing it, I would have been his friend."
The apostle James wrote that "the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members ... setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." May the tongues of fire that settled so cruelly on Asher be quenched by the one Spirit that can tame them.
May today be the day someone like Asher finds a friend.