Death by MySpace

Wow. The times we live in. This landmark ruling came days after another young man prematurely ended his life through web camera (blog entry "Am I my brother's keeper") and the on-line viewership egged him on. In my eyes, it was a crime for the viewership too insensitive to take immediate action to finally get a dime and a clue 10 hours later. Here was another preventable death on society's hands.

When I was growing up, as a Socratic rhetoric for developing independent thought, I remember hearing "If so-so jumps off the bridge, will you?" A child's development is heavily determined by his or her environment and socialization. The ideal environment being some traditional version of "Leave it to Beaver"-kind of fairy tale la-la-land. When those factor's are lacking, it takes incredible inner strength to go against the grain, be your own person, able to move beyond the opinion of others. I've always been a bit proud of being the black sheep of my family.

And yet, for those young adults genetically predisposed to depression or other mood disorders, it's a wee bit more challenging. Like most youth, they must bear the burden of still trying to establish their own identity while being resilient in the face of other people's opinions. Yet, they may not always be fully in control of all of their emotions and reactions. This is more than just keeping one's hormones in check. This is how one reacts to life's small and large challenges, to external imposed control, to things that can seem sort of life and death at 13 years of age...a crush AND a pimple. It can cause one to cry, over eat, not sleep, be anxious, etc. exaggeratedly so. These emotions, when left unchecked through ignorance or negligence the symptoms over time do deteriorate to promiscuity, drug usage, etc. This is why employing preventive measures and conducting interventions are critical.

Unfortunately, most of society is often apathetic, not aware or sensitive to what is happening in the mind or to the mood of a 13 year old or anyone else undergoing internal turmoil. Clearly this adult woman, sure didn't. To her, the website was just a bad joke. The trial, a twisted freak of nature. Now, those who work in the field of mental health can feel somewhat vindicated since this is where a lack of awareness leads. Must we conquer this trial by trial? Website by website?

Without education and de-stigmatization of mood disorders...we have nothing. Let's be mindful and act preemptively.

The Afterw@rd