My Realization

Just as Virginia Wolf’s recollection of the moth’s death “roused [her]” and a great realization “flashed upon [her],” I too experienced a change in mindset when a peer, Danny Ashtiani, passed away. Although I wasn’t that close to Danny, his passing revealed something to me that I only ever realized then – people are so evil and tend to care when it’s too late.

At his funeral, I noticed people there who used to bully him, call him weird and strange, his friends and family, complete strangers from around town, etc… even this one girl who screamed at him in front of everyone at a football game for something he didn’t do, and then noticeably made his life a living hell for about a week or two. All these people, just suddenly now caring about this boy and mental health, most of them fully aware about his struggle to cope… I hated it, and I didn’t know how prevalent this carelessness actually was. Perfect hypocrisy scenario.
Then came the post-passing events: the school’s effort (or lack thereof), the family’s efforts, his close friends’ efforts. What really made me come to this realization was what the school was doing. Knowing that Danny was really struggling, all they managed to do when he was around was get him into trouble rather than provide help and support. And then, after the fact, the school managed to hardly address his death and even took down memorabilia his friends and peers set up. Everything that Danny was suddenly disappeared, just like the former student before him that committed suicide.

My revelation was that the school, and even the community as a whole, really needs to become more unified and express more solidarity, especially regarding mental health. And we shouldn’t be doing this after the fact, after three suicides in our high school alone…

Comments

  1. Not PrestoMarch 11, 2018 at 10:16 AM

    Using such a personal example is something I really admire the capability to do. I myself try to keep a more comedic tone if I can because I try not to be overly personal, though you do a great job of it and your insights are well put, very well done!

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