So many tragedies in so little time. I don’t know if it’s the times we live in or the fact that with the internet we have a microscope on what’s happening. The microscope morphs into a microphone to this generation, especially with goals set to “viral.”

By now, we realize that the internet is not going away and many things that were kept in the dark to previous generations are now into the light and this generation unlike any that has gone before is faced to confront.

We also must realize that some horrific events can be altered, and some are going to happen no matter what we do. As a society, we must not turn our heads away from the events or images we encounter. We can try to close our eyes and our mouths and our ears, but chimp-like behavior won’t help us going forward.

Only when things are brought into the light can we deal with them. It is the “dealing” that will determine the outcome for others who may face the same obstacles. We need to work to encourage, evaluate and educate to make a difference in altering a reoccurring event.

The tragedy of any person being bullied, abused or depressed to the point of choosing to depart from life is certainly a socially heinous event. We want to look away. We want to hush it up. We want it to go away.

But their voices are calling to us from the grave. The cries for help didn’t stop at their moment of death, and with that act of suicide they are pleading with us to do something. Peer pressure is just one button that is being pushed in our young people’s lives. There is pressure to succeed, pressure to find themselves in a world telling them how to fit in, pressures from relationships and thoughts that are sealed in their minds like a pressure cooker making things seem worse than they really are.

To educate the world is to provide life-saving knowledge. To put someone who is hurting with someone who has survived the hurt is invaluable. To help find a way is to help find a cure. Instead of silence, we need solutions. Instead of inflicting shame, we need to make a stand with those affected. Instead of an evasive nature, we need to be educators.

Someone loves them. Someone has gone through it. Someone has a solution. Don’t we owe it to those who sacrificed their lives to reach the next one in time… the next one in line?

A good start is finding proactive support groups. They are out there, we need not only to find them, but to better publicize the help options.

To the hurting, frustrated teen that is out there today who believes that there is no one who understands and no one who can help, we encourage you to reach out with a strong voice to make a difference not only in your own life, but in the lives of the millions of kids out there who are facing similar circumstances. Your voice from this side of the grave can be louder than those muffled in death.

The teen suicide hotline is 1-800-273-8255. It is a great place to start.

Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To email him, send a message to: mdelap@www.bladenjournal.com