As an e-mail regarding an assault on one young boy by others is circulating around the Island, Operation Respect Bermuda (ORB) hopes to remind parents and students that there are resources available for the bullied.

In the e-mail, a mother claims that her 13-year-old son was lured from a party by someone who called himself a friend.

Once away from the party, the boy was attacked by four young men aged between 13 and 15, who struck the victim with a bottle and punched him repeatedly.

The mother wrote: "Had this just been a one on one fight, with no weapons, I could have chucked it up to boys being boys. These young boys are maliciously going around committing offences."

In another e-mail, a mother writes that her daughter was threatened outside Ice Queen by a young female who told the victim: "This is our rock and we are going to take it over" — a remark the mother believed was racial.

"Unfortunately the attacker is black, and my child is white," she wrote. "We are not a racist family."

ORB Chairperson delMonte Davis said that instances of bullying are not decreasing, and that the social development of Bermuda's youth has been put on the back-burner behind concerns about their academic development.

"Nothing could be more important than seeing both sides of the report card, both the social and behavioral and the academic," said Mr. Davis.

Regarding the incident outside of Ice Queen, Mr. Davis said: "An important question to ask is what that child said, why that child said it, and what taught the child to say it.

"The real question is where did it come from."

ORB is just one area of reference for parents, students and teachers to turn to.

"There's lots of help (available) in agencies like the Family Centre," Mr. Davis said, also referencing his organisation's website (www.orb.bm) as a resource for those needing help.

The one option that doesn't work, according to Mr. Davis, is simply ignoring the problem.

"Once bullying starts, it doesn't just go away," he said. "It starts with name calling and such and it escalates."