Response to video

I have to study for an exam tomorrow and two final exams at the end of the week, but over the past two weeks there’s been an increased interest in the video involving the girl who committed suicide; it’s had over eighteen hundred views over the past seven days.

Normally an increase in views is a good thing, but it’s different with this particular video because its popularity may have different implications. I hope you guys are alright.

When I originally finished the video, I debated whether to post it. It took about two weeks to make the video, and during that time I was so concerned about whether I could capture that universal moment in time that we’ve all experienced, a time of bleakness. We’ve all been through a time where we’ve felt alone and detached from our accomplishments and potential, and we just feel like failures. We wonder whether it’s worth continuing.

I was so concerned about whether I could capture the essence of self-loathing depression that I never really stopped to think whether I should. I didn’t consciously stop to think of the implications that it would have on the viewers of the video.

If it’s not explicitly implied, I do not encourage suicide.

People will have their own interpretations of the video, but I believe it’s about a brash decision influenced by loneliness and depression. When I was growing up, I was always told that suicide was selfish because if you died then you’d make everyone you loved burdened and depressed. And while it’s true, I’ve always thought it was selfish to say, “Don’t kill yourself because then I’d be sad.”

Suicide is bad for you. No matter how bad things get, you have the potential to do anything, whether it’s changing the world to rectifying past regrets. Your life is valuable; you’re not alone; and you make a difference. Whether we know it or not, we affect people. Life isn’t a road we walk alone, but a web where we’re all connected. You have the ability to touch lives, and more importantly, you have the chance to be happy.

Everyone goes through spouts of depression, but at some point, somewhere in everyone’s past, everyone has been happy. Sometimes life needs to be lived moment by moment, it comes and goes in waves, but you need to be alive to have your chances at affecting others and experiencing happiness.

Just hang in there; you’re worth it.

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That came out mushier than I wanted it to be, but you get the point.