A TAMBO boy’s song about bullying has received more than 260,000 views on Facebook, one of many tributes in honour of teenager Amy Jayne Everett aka Dolly who was laid to rest today.
It was November last year, while enjoying a cold drink after a day’s work, when 14-year-old Sam Sargood dug up a dirty piece of paper from the bottom of an old school bag and began playing a song.
It wasn’t until the passing of Dolly made headlines this week that Sam allowed his mother, Rachael, to post the song to Facebook on Thursday, in her honour.
Sam wrote the song after he finished an exam at his boarding school in Toowoomba and was feeling “a little bit down”.
The young boy had struggled with some home sickness and come across bullying himself after moving in 2016 and began writing down what he had seen since becoming a boarder.
“Before I left for boarding school I never really saw what bullying was,” he said.
“As I started to see different things like social groups, different things, you started to see how people can be affected.
“It was just more that I was sheltered back at home and it’s a lot harder to get away from (at boarding school). If it is happening in the boarding house it’s just like being bullied at home.”
A sample of the lyrics said:
Hey sometimes I see you sitting on your own
And people walk past like they don’t know
And they all point and make us feel lower than low.
Should we cry out for help?
Or should we say nothing and sit on the road to hell?
Sam moved back home in term three of 2017 and began studying at Tambo State School. He has started singing a lot more and loves being back on the family’s 21,000 acre cattle property.
It’s a decision his mother, Rachael said they didn’t regret.
“We were just devastated (to hear about Dolly),” she said.
“Having a boy of the same age who has been at boarding school and we had made that decision to bring him home and it probably did reinforce that we did make the right decision bringing him home.
“We have a very open relationship and he is very communicative but they can still get down and out especially boarding school kids, it’s tough. As a parent you try to pick up every little sign and signal that you can when they are not.”
She said the fear of negative comments being posted on Sam’s video for Dolly had made her nervous.
“It’s not affecting their lives but they put the comments there and it affects someone else’s life,” she said.
While it is understood Dolly’s family have listened to the song, Sam wanted to pass on his own message to them.
“Tell Dolly’s family that I’m truly sorry for what has happened,” he said.
“No one should ever feel that way.”
“I was very nervous of what people would think but once I saw what had happened to Dolly and how badly her family were affected then I thought well at least it (the song) has a purpose.”