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Girl Creates Powerful Video Message After Friend Falls Victim to Cyberbullying
Lauren Brocious' video has received upwards of 40,000 views on YouTube.
— -- A Virginia high school student has received support across the country after she created a powerful video in response to a friend's cyberbullying experience.
Lauren Brocious, 17, of Winchester, Virginia, shot her anti-bullying campaign, titled "#labels," earlier this month after noticing "mean comments" posted to her friend's Instagram page, she said.
"My first reaction was that I wanted to comment back and give them what they deserved, but then, I thought that would make no sense stooping down to their level," Brocious told ABC News. "[Instead], I made the video and I shared it with her [friend]."
In the video, which she also shared to YouTube, Brocious, a senior in high school, writes negative words on her face in eyeliner, explaining in her voice-over how we should "stop defining ourselves by other people's words, instead of our own."
By way of explanation, "All the words that I wrote on my face have been said to me in the past," she said of her own bullying experiences. "I used the eyeliner because we constantly mask ourselves with makeup and try to be something we not. It builds up, and we start to believe what other people say about us.
"All the videos I had seen that were like mine were all negative," she added. "They never got positive. You shouldn’t end things on a negative note."
Brocious ends the video by writing pleasant words on her face, in hopes of inspiring others to see themselves in a more positive light.
The video has received over 45,000 views since being posted to YouTube Dec. 2.
"I'm humbled, to say the least, but I think within that sense I want it to get more views," Brocious said. "There are so many more people that need to see it because there are so many teens that are cyberbullied every day.
“I think this is something that is a huge problem globally and if I can make a three-minute video to keep someone from harming themselves, or to bring a smile onto someone's face, then that’s totally worth it."
