Elizabeth Bowen observed that "there is no end to the violations committed by children on children, quietly talking alone." 

It is the "no end" that strikes a chill to the heart-no end to the violations, no end to the talking alone, no end to the urge some have to be cruel and unkind. And the reasons? There is no end to those either and reasons are not excuses. To understand all is not necessarily to forgive all. 

What is to be done? I think whatever it is must be done on an individual, a family, a person-to-person, adult-to-child level. Parents and teachers, older siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, wise friends, doctors, priests . . . it is our business. We need to talk to children about being unkind and cruel, to anyone or any creature. Because it is wrong. Why is it wrong? Not because someone said so, but simply because it inflicts pain and unhappiness on another and pain and unhappiness are not good things to dole out, they are things to try and avoid and cure. It hurts, it is upsetting and it makes you feel small and miserable, to be told, "You are stupid and you smell." So if someone says it, or something similar, to you, and you feel like that, you can understand why you should never do it yourself. It is unloving. 

Children can grasp things imaginatively. They play games which allow them to try out another person's shoes. They can understand stories which have a moral about cruelty and unkindness. They are more intelligent and sensitive than we give them credit for, and I do not believe that all is lost if they reach their teenage years without having had all this explained to them carefully and sensitively. 

All sorts of things may help, there may be many different ways of tackling this plague of cruelty and unkindness, a.k.a. bullying, and every one is worth trying. Because no child should be made to suffer and go on suffering in silence and certainly no child should ever be driven to suicide, because nothing has been done.  

Doing nothing is not an option.