positively-batty:

Drew was a sophomore at my school. I didn’t know him, but we shared some mutual friends. Yesterday, during lunch, he took a running start off the third floor of the 2000 building and took his own life, landing in the quad. A few of my friends were unfortunate to witness this as it happened, and just stand by feeling helpless as he died. I spoke with my neighbor and discovered that her son was acquaintances with him, and that he had been bullied and harassed in the past. I had a lot of friends in drama, who had just performed a play called 22% Fear. The play is about harassment and bullying, and what it does to people. My friends felt responsible for what happened to this boy. I told them that whatever the reason, he did it because it had not stopped for a long time. Suicide is not a whim. Suicide is not a result of watching a movie or listening to a song or seeing a play. It is a deep rooted problem that sometimes can never be fixed. After the play, some students weren’t being mature and decided not to take it seriously, laughing at the cruel murder of a boy and a suicide story. My deepest fear is that Drew took his life to send a crystal clear message to all bullies at my school— That death results in their actions.

I am writing this now, begging everyone who reads this, whether you are a bully, the bullied, or a bystander; please do not let this happen. Drew took his life to escape his suffering, but that should not have been his only way out.

If you are a bully, stop bullying and apologize.

If you are bullied, talk to people, because you are not alone.

If you are a bystander, speak up. Do not stay silent.

- N