The Ridge Review

Take time to Take Care

Thursday, November 19, 2009 By Jazmine Fetz

I am seventeen–years-old and I believe that in the short life I have lived, teen suicides have gotten higher and higher. When I was fifteen, my sixteen-year-old brother committed suicide. It was horrifying. At that age, I was so naive and did not understand the concept that my sixteen-year-old brother was gone forever. It was his fault he was gone. He took his own life, and that is what hurts the most. My brother, Cody, and I were really close when we were little, but when we got older we both seemed to go different ways; he went with his mom and I stayed with dad. Times would come that we would see each other and we would be like normal brother and sisters. I remember I was going into 7 th grade, and I was so excited because I was going to be in a school with my big brother (going into 8 th grade). Then I found out that he had moved away and moved in with his mother. In my eyes Cody was that brother everyone wanted to be around so I was devastated when he left. When he moved away we couldn’t keep in contact that much, but I would see him on weekends and other sorts of things. Then we would be brother and sister. Cody always seemed so content and happy with his life, so his suicide was so shocking. Every time I saw Cody, he was always giggling and smiling, but something had to have been bothering him at home or at school. I never knew what was going on in his head so I couldn’t help him. He was popular, good at sports, talented, tall, handsome, nice, generous-all you can think of as a good person. It didn’t and still doesn’t make any sense why he would want to take his own life and leave this world. Teens are exposed to many things: peer pressure, drugs, alcohol, family troubles, school troubles, disabilities, troubles with sports, relationships. Anything you can think of can be difficult for a teen it just depends on how you deal with everything to make it though. If you go through life believing everything happens for a reason or that it is not important to fit in all the time is a good way to look at life. You will never be perfect. You are not always going to be good at everything, so you have to learn to deal with the fact that life is not always fair. Everyone has troubles. The only thing that can help you is the way that you look at it and the way you deal with it. With life the way it is today you have to go on in a positive way, and you can’t give up. You just have to move forward. You are not in it by yourself because there is always someone there - a family member, a close friend, or someone you just met anyone can help you. You never know, maybe they are going through the same thing. My brother just gave up; he didn’t even try talking to someone and that doesn’t mean you have to talk to a therapist. Yes, I understand it might be hard, but maybe just talking about it will help you through the hardest times of your life. Giving up is the last thing you should do. Keep moving forward and if something ever gets you down just know that you aren’t in it alone. Being a senior in high school, I know what goes on in a teen’s life. I was a cheerleader and I got pressured to do things I was uncomfortable with. I would get told that I was a slut all the time just because I was a cheerleader and that wasn’t right. You can’t control what people say and think, but if you give them a reason to speak what they think, then you deserve it. But you don’t always have to give them something to talk about. I would get made fun of for not being wasted every weekend and not getting high before class, but that was not something I wanted to be involved with. So I said, no. I know that teens are scared to say, no. I was, because I worried about what my friends would think of me. What kids think is, “That cute boy/girl will like me if I do this.” But the fact of the matter is that cute boy/girl is not always going to be there, the “popular” kids won’t always be popular, and if your friends are true friends they will stick around no matter what you do or don’t do. If you get held down because of the pressure the only person to bring you back up is YOU. You can’t let the pressure of drugs, alcohol, and skipping school get you down. Those are just life’s struggles and if you feel like you can’t face it alone, then turn to a best friend or a family member. Teen suicides are too high and need to be stopped. Teen suicides are a horrible thing and anything you can do to prevent them will help. If you just say hello to someone you never talk to, or maybe you stop pressuring your friends into doing something they aren’t comfortable with and don’t want to do. My brother’s death was horrifying and it has changed my whole perspective on life. Let’s stop teen suicides and help our friends out, we all need to keep moving forward and fight our issues together because we aren’t in it alone. Let’s keep our friends and family breathing!