{"id":3709,"date":"2017-05-14T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/?p=3709"},"modified":"2017-05-13T23:22:17","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T03:22:17","slug":"bullies-suicide-and-13-reasons-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/?p=3709","title":{"rendered":"Bullies, Suicide and “13 Reasons Why”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to take a peek at \u201c13 Reasons Why<\/a>\u201d on Netflix. And yes, I am well aware of all the negative commentary surrounding it.<\/p>\n

However, one thing I will say, is that I thought the series was well done. The writing, story, acting, and cinematography is superb.<\/p>\n

\u201c13 Reasons Why\u201d is about a smart, pretty teenager named Hannah Baker who begins attending a new school, and becomes a target after a guy she liked took a photo of her coming down a slide. He decides to show the revealing photo to his jock buddies, and one of them\u00a0thought it\u00a0was a perfectly good idea to text it to everyone in the school.<\/p>\n

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Credit: Bully | by Jonathon Narvey | Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

It was disheartening to watch how these teenagers relentlessly bully her after that photo was sent. She\u00a0did her best\u00a0to cope with the cruelty that bombarded her on a daily basis. But\u00a0things took a turn for the worst, when the same guy who texted the photo, raped her.<\/p>\n

After this occurred, as a last resort, she visits with her school counsellor, which unfortunately, made matters worse. It was after this meeting, she decided to take her life. But before she does, she records 13 cassette tapes, leaving messages for\u00a0everyone she holds responsible, except for one, her friend Clay Jensen.<\/p>\n

The critics say \u201c13 Reasons Why\u201d glorifies rape and suicide. But I disagree. I believe the producers intention\u00a0was to shock people into awareness and create a conversation to propel change.<\/p>\n

I understand why some people wouldn’t want their small children watching it. However, I believe it should be\u00a0viewed\u00a0by parents and teenagers alike because\u00a0of its\u00a0important message.<\/p>\n

I understand all too well about triggers, however, there is more violence in “The Walking Dead” than there is in “13 Reasons Why.” So, is it perfectly okay for kids to watch stuff like “The Walking Dead,” but not okay for them to be educated on a real and prevalent issue, such as bullying, rape and suicide?<\/p>\n

Statistics say, suicide is the third leading cause of death in America between the ages of 10 to 24. Did you know every 98 seconds, an American is sexually\u00a0assaulted, and every 8 minutes,\u00a0it’s a\u00a0child?<\/p>\n

The story of “13 Reasons Why” reminds me of a YouTube video I watched several years ago of a girl who was being bullied. She made this\u00a0video<\/a> before she ended her life. Her name was\u00a0Amanda Todd<\/a>. She was just one of many who kill themselves because they see no other way out of their situation.<\/p>\n

Just recently,\u00a0I came across a story on Facebook of an eight year old boy from Ohio who committed suicide<\/a> because of the relentless bullying he endured. Why hadn’t the school stepped in and stopped it? Why is bullying allowed or ignored in our public schools? Why aren’t changes being instituted to insure the safety of our children\u00a0attending school?<\/p>\n

Yet, the critics are up in arms about \u201c13 Reasons Why.” I don\u2019t understand. Don’t they see what is going on? Aren’t they aware of the epidemic? Aren’t they paying attention to what is happening to our children\u00a0in schools across America?<\/p>\n

Yes, the content is graphic, but so is the reality. Parents and victims of bullies need to see and understand the damage it causes. Not turn a blind eye or pretend it isn’t happening. No one can afford to ignore this problem anymore.<\/p>\n

Parents, children, principals, teachers…everyone has a part to play. Parents can’t leave parenting up to the schools, because the schools can’t do it. However, I do believe schools need to send a strong message that bullying won’t\u00a0be tolerated. There needs to be accountability and a better security system in place.<\/p>\n

It is a shame\u00a0our schools have to turn into a juvenile detention center instead of being an institution for learning.<\/p>\n

Awareness and knowledge is the first step, and I believe \u201c13 Reasons Why\u201d accomplished that. Now the rest is on us. Instead of protesting, debating and disagreeing about this series, why not use the energy to be proactive in spreading awareness and helping to\u00a0stop bullying which is claiming the lives of our youth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to take a peek at \u201c13 Reasons Why\u201d on Netflix. And yes, I am well aware of all the negative commentary surrounding it. However, one thing I will say, is that I thought the series was well done. The writing, story, acting, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[10],"tags":[1435,1434,1386,810,1429,44,1430,77,354,1443,1438,1437,1439,1436,1440,1428,382,1442,636,1433,1432,1431,1441],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3709"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3716,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709\/revisions\/3716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}