LAND O' LAKES --
The movie 'Bully', released this year, shows what it's like for young children taunted physically and mentally by their peers.

Eric Colflesh, of Land O' Lakes, can relate. At 11 years old, he said he has been bullied in school because he's autistic; the bullies would poke fun at him for not having friends.

"I can easily get anxious and mad from certain situations," Eric said. "I verbally get bullied."Eric has seen a number of other students bullied, too.

He considers bullying child abuse and said bullies are just people who are jealous of other people.

"They know that they're going to succeed in life. They try to take advantage of them so they don't end up having a good future," Eric said.

After hearing about the movie, Colflesh wanted to see it. Due to an R rating, he couldn't. So Eric, with help from his mother, joined a social media campaign to help change the movie's rating.

Eric and many others gathered more than 500,000 signatures online. In April, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) changed the movie's rating to PG-13.

Colflesh felt a definite sense of accomplishment. "Thousands of kids get bullied each year," Eric said, "and it needs to be stopped."

Now he wants to create his own doc*mentary on bullying. He will make the venture part of his Boy Scout project. He hopes to take a look at taking a stand against bullies in his doc*mentary.

"Don't let go of your goal in life. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything."

Source: http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/6/21/bullied_austic_boy_u.html

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