The Perks of Being a Fan of the Perks of Being a Wallflower

January 30, 2014

January 30, 2014

Dear Charlie,

    Over the last couple of days I've been doing a lot of thinking. Over 30,000 people commit suicide each year. Over 30,000 lives are taken because the act of living is to much to bear.

    This lead me to the idea that maybe depression is our societies apocalypse.

    I feel as if everyone wants to be sad. And if you go on tumblr, sadness is glorified. And the really tragic thing is that I feel like some of my own friends want to be depressed because they want the attention.

    I feel like their are some people that look down on people that are suicidal and do self harm and then their are others that think having a mental illness makes you "hipster" or "punk" or "goth". 

    But what people don't understand is that depression is painful. And that every scar on a mentally ill's person's body has a meaning. And it's not for attention at all. It's because they're not comfortable in the skin that they're in, so they do things to it. And you can only understand this if you've ever fallen into this hole like me.

    And being depressed doesn't mean that you are always sad. It really means that you are so deep into the ground that living becomes a nightmare. And it's scary when you feel like you're the only person that's ever really truly felt this way.

     It's awfully sickening to think that our society wants to promote something like this on social media and other outlets. And more and more people are dying each day.   

    But I've learned something: We can stop this apocalypse if we understand that to live is an act of courage. And you should be proud of yourself for seeing another day. Even if they're dreadful. Because I've finally realized that there will always be something to live for.

Love always, Alia