Walking into O-Hill that first night in August, I felt alone in a crowded room. Sure, I had my roommate with me, but I didn’t know anything more than Facebook stalking had uncovered: blonde, from North Carolina, has cute clothes.
I was surrounded by first years feeling just as lost as I was. But, to me, they didn’t look that way. They looked like they had it all together: they were laughing, chatting with new friends, and not at all glistening with the sweat from hours of moving in that beaded on my brow.
Of course, this feeling passed with time. We all have moments of self-doubt and insecurity. However, for some, these moments do not pass. They build and build until they become unbearable. Everywhere they go is a crowded room of happy people, with them as the lone frown. Sometimes, this frown is hidden beneath a veneer that matches the crowd.
For some, this feeling of aloneness, this massive depression hanging over them, can lead to thoughts of suicide. A study commissioned by the University’s own Dr. James C. Cooper when he was president of the American College Health Association found that “suicide outpaces alcohol as a cause of death among college students.”
A girl from my county committed suicide early in the year. Later this spring, another boy attempted the same irrevocable act. The Center for Disease Control confirms that suicides tend to come in clusters. Nowhere would this be bound to be more prevalent than in a college community.
Every student is in tune with their classmates and with the students at other universities. On social media, through classes, in the news, there is constant communication between people our age. And when someone provides an example for suicide as an answer, there may be someone listening that accepts it.
To combat this, we must all accept depression as a reality. We have all felt alone in a crowded room. We will all feel this way again. But, if we look around, we may see someone we can be alone with, together. Reaching out, offering help, and holding back judgment can all be keys to stopping potential pandemics of suicide.
We can form a community that does not allow each other to be alone. We can be a community that offers resources for battling depression. We can be a community that loves each other and raises each other up in our darkest days.
