I am deeply disturbed today. Today I read about Katelyn Nicole Davis, AKA Dolly. She is a 12 year old girl who made a permanent choice to solve her struggle with depression and abuse. She live streamed her suicide. She gave the world a open view of her hanging herself. I just.....
According to reports, she had all the telltale signs of sever depression and abuse. She was a child who's subtle, and later not so subtle, cries for help were overlooked. The bruises and self-inflicted cuts were ignored. While she was on depression medication, WHERE WAS THE DOCTOR WHO PRESCRIBED IT? That doctor should have seen these things for what they were. Silent cries for help. We are so fast to offer anti-depressants. Nowadays, we as a society don't want to discover the messy, twisted bits that lie at the root of it all? Nope. Take a pill and cover it up.
Yes, I am on medication for depression. I am also seeing a therapist to get to the root of it. And yes, sometimes it is just a chemical imbalance in the body that is corrected by medication. I acknowledge that there are many different reasons to be on medication. But a 12 year old child, with physical evidence of abuse, should not have been placed on medication. She should have been given a place where she was safe. But she was overlooked and under cared for.
Her online diary was filled with sadness. Any of her entries would have been enough to get her the help she needed if someone had taken the time or had paid attention. But with the new trend (which I had written about previously) of casually saying someone wants to die or hopes to die, the cries of help get lost. That is why if one of my friends mentions or tries to joke about killing themselves I actually ask how they are doing.
Which leads to another problem.
When someone asks if you are okay, how often do you think they actually want to know the true answer? 9 times out of 10 we say, "Oh I'm fine." or "Okay." What about that one time you say, "Not good." Does the other person care? Do they try to hear your problems? Or do they say, "Aw that sucks." and then change the subject? Do we do that to people? Here is a challenge. When you ask how someone is doing, actually CARE! That may be the life line someone needs. If someone asks how you are doing, BE HONEST! NO ONE is perfect. No one should expect other people to be perfect either. Parents, PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CHILDREN! That is your job! I don't care if you are religious or not but it is your JOB to take care of that child you created or claimed responsibility for.
This as turned into a rant/vent. Katelyn was 12. She had an entire future ahead of her. Thousands of possible paths were placed at her feet. The choice she made was not the easy way out. But she was so lost in depression she could only see one path. It was the shortest path the guaranteed she would no longer suffer. And she walked it, She broadcast-ed it across the Internet.
If you are sad, lonely, lost, hurting, or any personification of unhappy, talk to someone. If you find yourself inching closer and closer along that short path, call your local or the international hot line. Call a friend, teacher, preacher, doctor. You are not alone in this struggle. Though you may be be hurting for a different reason, you are NOT alone.
I don't know who all reads my rants I deem a blog. But I know that I care about you all. I guess I hope, it may seem a little vain, that my blog can be a small, warm light to someone who is lost in the dark. Darkness does not last forever. And you don't have to be alone. Your reasons for being sad or depressed are real and important. Be they little or large. No one can tell you how you should feel.
Don't just be kind to each other. Be open. Open to hear someones call for help or the reason for their joy. Every little bit of kindness you share can help light up the dark in this cruel world. You being open could be just the thing someone needs to start of a better path.
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