I'm with SM on this. I guess I'm one of those underprivileged people. From my experience, what she went through is nothing. In America, stuff like this might not happen to many people, but in China, it's normal.
The other girls parents didn't directly kill her, but they handed her a loaded gun. They knew she had severe depression (which is unusual in a pre-teen) and calculatingly exploited her vulnerability through MySpace. The other girl's parent ARE very much responsible for Megan's death and should be accordingly punished. Imagine you had an anger problem that your "friend" knew about. He sends pictures of your wife cheating on you with another man, you go into a murderous rage killing your wife. You later find out your "friend" had the pictures photoshopped to set you up. Is your friend to blame in this incident? Hell yes he is. Is he 100% responsible? No, but he should be severly punished for his role.
She has CLINICAL DEPRESSION. You did not and a vast majority of the world does not. Dont get me wrong, I think stupid things like giving participation awards to everyone and stuff like "we're all winners" is silly. I think over-protecting kids is wrong. But she's not a normal kid, she suffered from depression and ADHD and the other parents knew that. And you nor SM have ever suffered from serious depression so don't act like your experiences apply. I'm Indian, I go through the same bull**** you go through and the same stupid pressures from other Indian families that are obsessed with trumping up your own kid and bringing down everyone elses. But until you interact with people with serious depression or go through it yourself, your experiences aren't applicable.
Look I'm not saying suicide is ok, nor is there any use in shouldering all the blame on the other family. But saying things like she should "tough it out" isn't fair either. I've worked with suicide prevention groups and there is just so much more going on in the minds of those willing to consider the act that we don't realize. Suicide is a personal act that is selfish. We can all agree on that. But those that are mentally ill also don't think rationally like the rest of us. So while suicide isn't right, it also becomes more understandable when explained in context. She was depressed and suffering from severe clinical depression. The concept of free will gets messed up when mental illness comes into play because rationality is thrown out the door. Look the other family was a bunch of pricks. And if they have any conscience they should be suffering just from the thought that they helped commit and act that drove a girl to suicide. I suppose we don't disagree on much but I just took offense to the tone of your post. I can't help but sympathize with those that suffer from depression and other mental illnesses. it's truly one of the most horrible things to watch as an outsider. I can easily watch gruesome pain but I just struggle to watch people with mental illnesses. Some of the most terrifying and saddening things one can see in life. Not a personal accusation but most of us haven't dealt with depression on her level so its unfair for us to point fingers are decry judgment on her and her actions. Not saying what she did was right, but I just felt your post was a little to simple. Mental illness is much more complex than that and a standard post about free will (which is very applicable to many suicides that don't involve mental illness) doesn't apply here.
Okay. Have you ever done anything rash and stupid when you were at the height of your misery, pain, or anger? This is one of those situations. The kid was obviously unstable, but people purposely pushing her over the edge is rather *sadistic*, wouldn't you say. In the end, this is just a kid who had some problems and people exacerbated it. Sadass story.
I've suffered from depression most of my life. I'm good now and can operate normally without medication (though it helps). I was especially bad from ages 11-23. I often thought about suicide and on 3 or 4 occasions I came dangerously close to actually attempting it. Depression is no joke and unless you have it, you have no idea how bad it can get. I know what causes mine (low serotonin levels) and have been able to compare how I feel and respond to situation when my serotonin levels are normal and when they're low. When things get bad, it's so much worse if you have depression. Trust me.
What kind of nerve do these scum of the earth people have? After completely destroying a family and leading a young person to her death, they press charges for property damage? Sickening. I hate MySpace.
Seriously, I don't see how a few people here can make jokes or even find any humor in this.. I feel for the family. I agree with the OP that if this were my daughter, God knows what sorts of awful things I'd do to that family. I find it weird that a judge can sue some cleaners for millions for losing his PANTS, and yet prosecutors can't find sufficient reasons to nail this parent.
How does the dad stay so calm? "Ron asked friends to convince them to leave before he physically harmed them." Man f*ck the law, esp when the law fails you like that. I would take justice into my own hands. Street justice. And nothing would taste sweeter. As far as I'm concerned, my life is over at that point anyway. Living on the same block as them?? Oh my....... I'd go crazy
I assure you I did. I'm still in a constant state of depression even now. I could say some juicy personal **** to prove it, but I won't. I even made a depression thread a couple of years ago. One day I'll make a thread about my mental issues from heavy childhood abuse/negligence/etc, till then I'll just handle it like how I've been handling all my issues, internally struggling.
horrible story indeed. Parenting must be a very difficult job. Specially if your kid is deppressed. Oh well life is tough.
Obviously those other parents are total idiots for creating a fake profile and chatting with the girl, but isn't everyone bullied and teased at one point or another whilst in school? I think kids need to have a thicker skin about this stuff. I've had bouts of depression over the past 10 years, but you just eventually find yourself out of it. If you think logically- one will realize a situation that is causing you that much mental harm will not always be like that, and you can get through it. The only suicide I find logical is for people in constant physical pain.
