"MySpace Kids"

Can we as a society collectively stop making fun of depressed and anxious teenagers please

"Why does depression have to feel like
Some kid with awful bangs on MySpace is writing my inner dialogue?"
Well friend,
That's just how it is.
You feel like a kid from 2008
Because that's how they felt
And we all shamed them for it.
And when I say we, that includes myself.
Yes, I was one of those people, I admit.
But it's important that we stop now
Because when a child
A child, who may still have baby teeth
Says that they're tired of living,
Says that they wake up and don't see light anymore,
We should not laugh.
We must listen
Because even if it's some sick joke
That only a jaded teenager could make
It's important that they know there are people
Who love them.
When a girl who no one knows is a girl
Tells you her name with shaking breath,
You listen to her.
You do not tell anyone else
And you do not turn her into a dinner table topic
Meant to be laughed at because when you do that
You will turn her into a headstone.
When your sister tells you that she doesn't feel right
And that she's been looking at symptoms for BPD,
You help her in any way you can.
You make sure she knows that she is loved and appreciated
Because for the love of whatever is holy,
She has no idea.
So yes, I know that our society tells us that children in pain is
"Cringeworthy"
But Lord, I'm happy to live through it if it means that
Some of these kids might make it to college.
"Why does my inner dialogue sound like a teenager
With purple hair and Red Bull wrote it?"
Because they were talking about how they felt to anyone who would listen.
Don't shut them down.

Reviews

[whyamihere]

I love this poem so much, it's such a different and refreshing take on the topic!