I was reluctant to watch "13 Reasons Why" for many reasons, but I started watching the show anyway. I was up until 7 AM binge watching. "13 Reasons Why" has taken over social media since viewers had enough time to finish the series.
So all of this, did we really need 13 Reasons Why Hannah Baker committed suicide?
Yes. We did.
I have struggled with depression. I have struggled with anxiety. I have struggled with suicidal thoughts. I have struggled with the reality that there are people in the world that think that depression is something you can just forget about. I have also struggled with high school and the way my former classmates viewed these situations.
The problem is that I'm not the only one who has dealt with these things. I have had close friends struggle with mental illness and I'm fully aware that so many other teenagers deal with it. However, mental illness is often overlooked because of the way most high schoolers overlook depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses.
Let me tell you that if I could have made my depression go away overnight, I would have. If I could wake up one morning and not have anxiety, I would take that chance in a heartbeat. But it doesn't go away overnight, and (in my opinion) 13 Reasons Why honestly describes dealing with a mental illness in high school perfectly.
When you're that low and you don't see life looking up, the littlest things really can push you over the edge. I have had classmates tell me that my reasons for (at one point) being suicidal were no big deal. But it is.
We needed Hannah Baker's 13 reasons because her reasons highlight topics that society often overlooks. If the words rape and suicide make you uncomfortable, it's because we don't talk about them enough. It took a TV show for millennials to realize the importance of kindness and the fact that even the smallest gesture can mean so much to someone. Let that sink in.
Why as a society are we just now realizing this? Did it really take a TV show for us to learn to be kind to one another? Why are there so many high schoolers just now realizing the importance of validating mental illness?
"It has to get better. The way we treat each other and look out for each other... it has to get better somehow" -Clay Jensen, Episode 13
Food for thought. If you haven't taken the time to watch "13 Reasons Why," I highly suggest you do.
And don't even get me started on the concept of rape in this show. That's for another article.
