#3

I’d like to comment on number 3: Disapproval by a person’s peers can cause a teen to have a mental breakdown.

I like the way Diana approached discussing this—dissecting the statement into words like “disapproval” and “peers” and what each means. They’re rather vague without such interpretation. Also, it’s terrific that she doesn’t care too much about what other people think about her; it’s an attitude that I really admire and try to emulate myself. But by the same logic of taking apart the statement, one word that sticks out to me is “can”. Is it possible that disapproval by a person’s peers cause a teen to have a mental breakdown? Unfortunately, yes.

If you’ve paid attention to the news lately, you’ve no doubt heard of all the bullying victim suicides. I can’t remember all their names, but those photographs—those awful, missing person-esque profile pictures of those kids shown on television networks across the country—are incredibly haunting. Sam talked about the recent suicide of Raymond Chase (but I’m not certain those facts are completely right, because I read that Chase was openly gay on Huffington Post) and how a peer’s actions drove him to take his own life. And there have been so many similar incidents in the last couple of months—even kids as young as 13 committing suicide because they were bullied. I remember in particular the story of 15 year old Phoebe Prince, who was bullied so badly that one day after school she went into her living room and hung herself with a scarf she got as a present. It’s just sickening. And also scary—the stupid antics of school kids can result in someone killing themselves. Read that last sentence and let it sink in—it terrifies me.The power kids have against their peers is considerable when you think about it. And even if the effects of this "disapproval", whether in the form of bullying or talking about someone behind their back or different, are not quite as extreme, they will probably be largely negative. I mean, school is stressful enough as is, but if you're being harassed or something similar...my guess is that won't do wonders for your mental health. Sure, if someone’s is confident and strong then they won’t be as sensitive to people’s opinions of them, but even then “disapproval”, if harsh enough, can have awful results and drive people to extremes, as seen by these suicides. I don’t know what other proof to offer someone who disagrees with number 3—open your eyes.