So, today in computers, we watched this video about cyber-bullying. You know, one of the stupid ones that most people try to sleep through, and nobody really cares about in the end. But one part of it really disturbed me- this one boy, who committed suicide. He just took the belt from his sister's bathrobe and hung himself from the shower curtain pole. His sister found him the next morning and started screaming, then said "Dylan's dead!" Later his parents found out that some kids had been calling him gay online, and so he looked up how to tie a noose on Google, and killed himself. Then they showed a bunch of videos of him when he was younger- and he was this nice looking kid, you know? And the entire time, I kept thinking: he killed himself. This adorable little kid killed himself. And then I kept replaying this scene in my head: walking into the bathroom, thinking, "Hey? Why is my bathrobe hanging from the shower pole?", and then stepping all the way in and seeing a head attached to it, then a body,with a pale, horrified expression on the face of the corpse who used to be your brother. The one you spent every Christmas with, opening presents. The one who, just the other day, was singing this stupid song about how much he loved video games. The one who went to all your concerts, who you used to cuddle with when he was really little. And then, when the video ended, all the kids in my class started talking about how stupid that was, the most wasted 45 minutes of their life. And I just sat there thinking: do they not feel anything? Do they really not care? It's not the cyber-crap that bothers me, it's that little boy. And every time I think of his face, I see my brother. How could anyone ever do that to themselves and their family?
Good piece, but I have to nitpick you on block paragraph. I agree totally, even though I have no younger siblings, let alone a younger brother. I went through the whole are-they-THAT-heartless thing today after we watched this drunk driving thing. *shudder* I agree with your POV, nice, raw-ish piece. Job well done.
hey, Jude, don't make it bad take a sad song and make it better remember to let it into your heart then you can start to make it better.
It really is quite terrible, yes. He's not the only one... there are many other stories like that. I know that on occasion, Nate will post some of these stories like his on the mod forums just so that we understand the gravity of moderating for young teenagers. It's quite a wake-up call.
I like what Craig Ferguson had to say about something similar to this, actually. He said that in comedy, he felt like he should be attacking the powerful and he felt that his aim was off lately because he felt like he was attacking the weak and the vulnerable. He said, "You can embarrass someone to death." And I think that's right.
Anyway, just keep your eyes out for each one of another. ^_^
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.
"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach
