Suicide is a real problem in our society nowadays that needs to stop and there is a real reason to why teens give up on life.


I know there are a bunch of reasons for a teenager to say goodbye such as; school work, break-ups, stress, fighting with their parents or the parents fighting with each other, but the biggest reason has to be bullying. Even just one word can end a teenage life. In my opinion, everyone should be treated equal no matter what their sexual orientation is, no matter what race they are, no matter what religion they are, no matter their size. I don’t care, everyone is put on this Earth for a reason and therefore everyone should be treated equally. The story of Asher Brown is a perfect way to describe what power bullies can have on a teenager.


Asher Brown was a 13 year old boy an 8th grade, a straight A student at Hamilton Middle School. Now you’re probably thinking this boy is happy with a good future ahead of him, but you’re wrong. He had a horrible life at school which resulted him to shoot and kill himself on September 20 of 2010. He was being “bullied to death,” about his size, the clothes he wore and his religion. They also accused him of being gay and some would perform mock gay acts. Having this kind of harassment every day would give anyone depression. The worst harassment he received was the day before he committed suicide, he was walking down a flight of stairs and got tripped by one of his classmates.


The sad part of the story, was on the morning before he killed himself he called his step dad and told him he was gay and his step father claimed he was okay with it. Before the tragedy, his parents would try to complain to the school about the bullying, but no matter how hard they tried the school won’t do anything about it. They made visits to the school and complained about the bullying on many occasions, his mom would even make phone calls that were never returned.


Now, all his parents want is what we all want, for the harassment to stop. No one wants their kid to suffer like Asher Brown did. The school needs to hear the cry of help before it’s too late, this school failed to do so, they failed to save him. Now what his mom says to all the bullies that harassed Brown everyday is, "I hope you're happy with what you've done. I hope you got what you wanted and you're just real satisfied with yourself." This is true because if it hadn’t happened Brown would still be alive today, but you can never change the past now can you?


We can all learn something from Asher Brown’s tragic story, but how can we stop other teens from ending their lives? We can’t. Bottom line, do matter how much parents and friends can try to tell the victim how much they would miss them, how much they mean to the world or how beautiful they are, but chances are they're not going to listen.


The only person that can stop them is themselves. They need to think about how much better the future can be, that there's always something to look forward to. You also need to find the true beauty inside yourself, find out what you're really capable of and truly know who you are, don’t let anyone drag you down and make you feel bad. I know it’s hard, trust me I know what it’s like to feel different from everyone else, to be bullied. I know how you feel and once I found the true beauty in myself I truly knew who I was and I didn’t let anyone convince me otherwise. Everyone has true beauty in and out, you just need to find it and once you do you’ll truly know what you mean to the world.


All in all, I think teenagers need to see their true beauty within, if you see that you will see what huge mistake you’re making with ending your life.