My name is Jeff Lasater, I am married and the father of two sons. Nathan, 16 and Jeremiah, age 14. I am an average person who owns a muffler shop. We had an average life. On October 20, 2008 my world stopped, my entire life was turned upside down. A police officer came to my business to tell me that my son Jeremiah had taken his life with a single gunshot to the head. This happened in the school bathroom, right after his lunch period. My first reaction was one of disbelief. This is not possible; it can't be my son, whom I'd dropped off at school that morning. He'd been talking about needing new shin guards and wanted to make sure I'd be off work in time for his football game. Why would a 14 year old take his own life? What I discovered was the answer was hard to believe. My son had been bullied in school so much he could no longer deal with the pain. The more I looked into the bullying that went on at the school, the angrier I became. Not much is done about this problem; either the teachers claim they don't know about the problem or they prefer the children turn the other cheek. The day Jeremiah took his life chili was thrown on him at lunch and his pants had been pulled down. The school claimed that they were unaware that this had happened. I find this hard to believe. The tapes from the cafeteria that day showed nothing was out of the ordinary, business as usual. This is a small example of what can go on in almost any school on any given day of the week. My understanding is that the children responsible for the bullying received a one-day suspension from school as their punishment. A small price to pay for a life. Born, Project Jeremiah 51, a non-profit organization. The 51 represents his football jersey number, he was so proud to wear that number. Life had finally begun to go well for Jeremiah. He had started a new school, was making new friends, and best of all was playing football on the Junior Varsity team. Jeremiah was a little different than the other kids and had trouble adjusting at times. A big boy, he stood at 6'6" tall and weighed 275 pounds. His eyesight was poor and he had to attend some special classes. He had trouble running like everyone else, but his coach was working with him to correct the problem. Life is so much harder on a child that does not fit into the so-called "normal world." Jeremiah never gave up, he kept trying, he kept pushing until the very end. I think his heart finally broke, it was too much. | 
