Dolly was just 14-years old at the time of her death. The young girl from Katherine (a small town in the Northern Territories of Australia), had decided to take her own life, due to the amount of pain and suffering she was feeling from the bullying she was receiving from online stress. Her death has sparked public debate over how to combat the growing trend of online bullying. Dolly's family had also decided to invite her bullies to her funeral, in the hope that they are going to see the amount of devastation they have caused.
`Amy Everett, the girl that took her own life because of the amount of online bullying she had to suffer, was just 14-years old at the time of her death. She was better known as "Dolly," by her friends and family from Australia.
On some of the available photos of Dolly, you can see her wearing a large cowboy hat. The reason why she is wearing that hat is that she was the official face of Akubra, one of the most famous and iconic Australian hat making companies.
Although Dolly's parents are going through hard times and are grief-stricken, they still found strength and courage to strike back at the girl's bullies. They even invited the trolls (who mostly hang around on social media) to Dolly's funeral.
The reason Dolly's parents invited the online trolls, was with the hope that they could see the pain and devastation they caused by writing such horrible things to such a young girl. It is not yet known whether any of the trolls appeared at the funeral.
According to Dolly's family (who lives in Katherine, a small town in the Northern Territory of Australia), they are going to take a pro-active aim at the "keyboard warriors" who caused the young girl's death, so that her death won't be in vain.
Dolly's death happened recently, on January 3, but news of it wasn't released until four days later when her father Tick Everett first spoke about the tragic event. In his social media post, he thanked supporters and condemned bullying, hoping that future children won't have to suffer the same fate.
Dolly's father began his Facebook post by saying, "This week has been an example of how social media should be used, it has also been an example of how it shouldn't be." That was his way of thanking all of the people who have publicly supported Dolly.
Everett (Dolly's father), continued his post by writing, "I know for some suicide is considered cowardly but I guarantee those people wouldn't have half the strength that my precious little angel had, Doll had the strength to do what she thought she had to do to escape the evil in this world."
In the same social media post, Everett also gave his invitation to the trolls. He wrote, "Firstly if by some chance the people who thought this was a joke and made themselves feel superior by the constant bullying and harassment see this post, please come to our service and witness the complete devastation you have created."
Dolly's friends and family have even come up with a catch phrase, that they hope is going to take off and help future victims talk about the pain they are feeling. The catch phrase they came up is "speak now even if your voice shakes."
After her death, even Akubra hats, the iconic Australian hat manufacturer, had come in support of Dolly and called for an end to bullying. It is not yet known how the government and law enforcement plan to fight this growing online trend of bullying.
Akubra released a statement condemning bullying. They wrote, "the young girl many of you will recognize as the face of our past Christmas adverts. This beautiful photo was taken 8 years ago,' she said. Bullying of any type is unacceptable. It is up to us to stand up when we see any kind of bullying behaviour. Dolly could be anyone's daughter, sister, friend."
One of the recurring themes of the people who have come in support of Dolly is stating that we need to do more to support people who are under a lot of stress from bullying. That includes not only bulling in the streets but online as well.
According to Dolly's parents, Tick and Kate Everett, they described their little girl as the kindest, caring, and beautiful soul they have ever known. Their statement (which was also sent by her older sister Meg), was sent to the Australian version of the Daily Mail.
Even though she was young, Dolly already cared for a lot of other people and animals, making sure that they are okay. The family's statement said, "She was always caring for animals, small children, other children at boarding school who were less fortunate than herself."
