So just last week at my school, we had a play about STOPPING the bullying amongst the students at our community. My school, I would say, has a serious problem with bullying students, boy AND girl alike. In the play, death was involved. A bully has accidently killed a student from my high school kind of long time ago...

And then just this week, we had a simulation of drunk driving cases where senior and junior students are chosen to be the drunk driver, and to be killed from drunk driving accident. None of it was real, it was just fake. The purpose was to teach the high school students about drunk driving and how it hurts people and how serious the case is. Now...at my school very recently, we had a REALLY serious bullying case...and I want everyone to hear about it, and LEARN.

This all happened yesterday- a normal friday. I was excited to go to school because I was going on a field trip for my science class with my friends. I didn't have to go to any of my periods, only my first and last. Then in the morning in first period, I had a strange daydream. I was thinking of one of my friends dying...I don't if it was suicide or murder, but I just daydreamed that one of my best friends died and I was going hysterical. I almost cried.

And then, I met up with my friends and went to the field trip to Caltech university. It was pretty boring, actually. My new senior friend (I'm a sophmore) and I were complaining how boring the presentation was and everything. My other two friends and I were saying how short everything was. And then we went into a lab place where we got to see the earthquake seismographs and things like that. It wasn't exactly FUN but it was okay.

It was 12:00 pm. Lunch time. My senior friend, Cathleen and I bought our lunches and found a good spot to eat in the cafetoria. The food there was SO good, but it was pretty expensive. I ate one slice of my pizza and was chatting with Cathleen. And then my other two friends came and sat with us. I was eating my second pizza when...Cathleen got a text message from her mom. It read:

"A kid jumped off a building and killed herself."

...What? What did I just read? Someone...KILLED herself?

At first, everyone said it was a girl and a freshman at our school. When I first heard it, I thought Cathleen was joking. I thought it was all just part of the simulation we were doing for the drunk driving thing. But soon, everyone else heard about it too...And we knew for sure that someone suicided at our school.

It was all so crazy...I couldn't believe what happened. We were supposed to go to the gift shop, but of course, we had to go back to school campus because of the crazy news...

We went back to school. On the bus, I almost cried. How crazy it is for some freshman girl to kill herself AT SCHOOL? She was only a freshman...She had so much life ahead of her. And I also heard that she didn't just DROP from the 2000 building, but she JUMPED. She jumped down and killed herself. The 2000 building is the highest building at my school. It's the science department (and there are some other subject classes too, I think). It was rumoured that the girl went up on the roof and HOPPED down into the middle of the quad. The quad is where everyone hangs out, where they eat lunch, and where they pass through to get to class.

We went back to school and by that time, I knew pretty much all the details. But most were rumors. Nobody was even sure if it was a girl or boy anymore. Some said girl, some said boy.

Cathleen's younger sister said it was a girl. Cathleen's younger sister...she was casually walking to her locker when a body flew down from the sky, landing RIGHT in front of her...

So anyways, we all went back to school and everyone was evacuated to the lower field immediately. By then, it was 1:44 pm.

Soon, my brother and I met up and...almost all was revealed.

The name was Drew Ferraro. I don't know anything about him, and I don't know anyone who knew him... But I heard that he's a sophmore, and he jumped off the highest building at our school, headfirst. There was a bunch of blood on the ground, and I heard that the blood still remains... The school didn't even call the paremedics till thirty minutes later... Maybe, just MAYBE a doctor could've done something before Drew lost so much blood and died. There are many intelligent students who knew how to do EMR (or something like that) so they offered to help, but the school authorities declined.

Anyways, I heard that he didn't have many friends, and when he stood on the roof to jump down, some guys who were looking up at him even joked, "Why don't you flip a few times before jumping?" I think that must've made him even more mad to jump and end his life...

I also heard that he said something before jumping, but I don't think anyone quite heard it...

The odd thing here is that...he jumped right in the beginning of lunch time, where ALL the students are out. It's like he WANTED to show everyone his suicide. Is that how much he wanted attention? How much he wanted to be noticed? Maybe he was SO desperate for someone, ANYONE...to notice him, that it drove him to end his life in front of everyone.

Another good point that my fellow school-mate and church friend made is that the school is such a happy place for many of us. We hang out with our friends, joke with each other, laugh, and have fun. But at the SAME environment, another person is feeling lonely, sad, alone, hurt, and...depressed. And who makes the environment at our school? We do. The students. We make the environment. So because of the students, it can lead someone to KILL themselves.

And this death was a reminder to many of us that bullying should be really stopped, and that bullying at my school has reached the limit. I heard that many people cried and mourned for him, even for those who didn't know him. They clutched onto each other and cried...and prayed... I think that was a wonderful thing.

But not ALL students had that reaction. Some people said things like, "He just wanted attention, so I feel no sorrow for him." and "Why do we have to go through all this hassle just because somebody died?" ... There were many other reactions like that, and it really hurt me. Some people even joked about it and brushed it off. But what they don't realize is that this is a SERIOUS GODDAMN ISSUE.

Imagine yourself PUSHING yourself off of a cliff. Can you do that? How scary is that? Do you really not value your life THAT much? It's scary to even get a flu shot....but jumping off a building!?

I've tried to hurt myself before. I've also tried to kill myself. But no matter how sad I was, I couldn't push myself to do it. But he...JUMPED OFF. Just to end his life right then and there.

The reason why he killed himself isn't yet revealed, but I think it has got something to do with bullying, because why else would he suicide at school where all the students are watching? 

So the point of this blog is to remind you guys that little actions can change someone's LIFE. When you see someone pass by, smile at them. Ask them how they're doing. Compliment them. NOTICE them. A simple action like that can change someone's life and turn it around. You never know. So please try to do that to everyone, and try to notice people. Even your enemies...they might be feeling lonely at heart, just nobody knows about it. And what if your enemy suicides? Do you really want her/him to die with her/him knowing that you hate that person?

Please try to appreciate everyone...and to encourage and love everyone. Please help me and many others at my school and in the world to STOP the bullying, STOP the suiciding rate, STOP the deaths... Please...

R.I.P. Drew Ferraro.

Support the stop bullying act by putting "STOP THE BULLYING. RIP DREW FERRARO." for your status... I just want to make a difference in the world.