Singers Save Lives

“You’re ugly.”

“Attention seeker.”

“You’re worthless.”

“Nobody will even care if you go.”

“Kill yourself because you’re the biggest piece of sh** to ever exist!”

It was always the same thing every day. I constantly heard these words being said—no, these words being yelled at me. There were rumors being spread about me and sometimes, I feel like the rumors are true, even though I know that they aren’t. Then again, if these so called “rumors” are being said, doesn’t that make them true? I don’t have anybody to talk to and no one is willing to listen to me or hear me out. No one cares about what I have to say. It’s always been like that. What was the point of being here if no one wanted me? My parents even considered me as a person who always messed up. They were devastated when they found out my brother took his life, so they pressured me into being the perfect little girl. My parents would even curse at me when I did something wrong or if I broke something valuable to them that could easily be replaced. Everyone made a big deal out of everything I did.

By they have every right to hate me. I give them a reason to hate me. No one notices me and it’s just so difficult to be here. There’s not even a single person who understands me or take a second glance at me. I try to fit in, but I’m always excluded from the group. Even the “outcasts” consider me and outcast. I belong nowhere.

No. I don’t belong here.

I began to self-harm when I was in the sixth grade. No one noticed the red tears that seeped out of my body until the end of my freshman year in high school. Everything was going perfect. I was starting to begin to accept who I was. I even had fallen in love with a sophomore boy who made me believe that he loved me too. It was never love. I was simply his puppet. A puppet he could easily control because he made me feel things that I would never feel. Then everything began to go downhill, when the girls from yearbook had noticed the small crimson red repetitive fading stripes on my pale arms. Somehow, those girls managed to spread the news to the entire school about what I was doing to myself. It never stopped, not even in my junior year. I was still constantly bullied and I was never allowed to speak my mind about anything. If I did, I was told to keep quiet or to not write out my ideas because my opinion didn’t matter. I didn’t want to hurt anyone and for some reason, my opinion always hurt others. I couldn’t even write a simple story about my life because it was wrong.

“Alexandra Waters cuts herself.”

“How could she believe that Collin ever cared about her? She should know that he’s been talking to Ainsley.”

“Ainsley is so much more beautiful than Alexandra. Ains doesn’t even have those ugly scars on her.”

Collin and I were never “talking,” but he made me feel important and special. He made me feel unique. Everyone knew that I was completely in love with him, and I still am, ever since I met him at the beginning of my freshman year. We were halfway through my sophomore year when he stopped speaking to me. Collin avoided me completely and so did his best friend, Taylor. Those two have always been inseparable. Collin avoids me and Taylor talks about me as soon as he sees me. They talk about my flaws as if I don’t already notice them. I knew every flaw that I had ever since I was four. I’ll be turning seventeen in April in a month, so it’ll be thirteen years of constantly hearing how horrible I am.

Subconsciously, I grabbed a small sharp silver razor that had been calling my name since this morning and made a long deep silt in my throat before my body began to let out a sweet strong smell of iron.

Alexandra Waters was rushed to hospital after she was found bleeding to death.

In 2010, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) collected data about suicide being 2.1% of the “10 Leading Causes of Death.” 38, 364 suicides were reported that year. At a TED talk, Mark Henick mentioned in October 2013 that someone in the country died by suicide every 17 minutes. If only there was a way to help prevent another suicide from occurring besides having these people seek medical help.

There are two solutions.

The first is to not encourage anyone commit suicide. No, the word “commit” is being used incorrectly here in this sentence. These people aren’t committing a crime. Suicide is simply a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Suicide isn’t something that should have you laughing to death. It’s something you should help prevent and it’s not something that you should handle alone. You shouldn’t use the words in a way that can scar a person’s mind. The second solution is quite astonishing. It’s a solution that you would least expect to help somebody feel good about themselves since everyone is listening to an average of 25 songs per day.

Music.

Yes, people who have had suicidal thoughts have turned to music just like many famous singers. Music is their only true best friend and through music they have found people like them. Both girls and boys have met through social media simply due to a singer who has given them a reason to stand out and live. These people look up to a singer who went through the same thing as them. Through my experiences, I’ve met a lot of these people and they happen to be close friends of mine. Directioners, Lovatics, Hayniacs, Swifties, Beliebers, and many others have realized that music is an answer to keep these tainted thoughts from their minds.

Singers such as Demi Lovato, Hunter Hayes, Taylor Swift, and Liam Payne have explained publicly how they've either been bullied or considered an outcast, and how they don't want their fans to feel that way. Recently on January 30, 2014, Lovatics (fans of Demi Lovato) have realized how far their idol has come. In 2009, the singer used Twitter to express her feelings. She tweeted, "Waiting on someone to save me from me." Four years later, Lovato tweeted, "Only you can save you from yourself.. It IS possible, you just have to willing to do the work.. #surrender." Many of the people that I follow on Twitter can either relate to Lovato or they look up to her.

"I've got scars that I will never show. I am a survivor in more way than you know." These few verses from the chorus of Demi Lovato's song "Warrior" have impacted so many of her fans that they have come to realize that they have a reason to live. Another example is Hunter Hayes. He is mostly know for his song "Wanted," which was released in 2011 on his self-titled debut album and it became a single in 2012, released a new song called "Invisible" from his new album which he's still creating.

"It's called "Invisible." It's a very personal song for me and it's a very emotional song for me. It's emotional for me just to talk about it . . . It's about bullying. It's about being misunderstood," Hayes said at an interview backstage at the Grammys with US99.5 on January 25, 2014. Hayes was bullied for being "a total geek" and "a total nerd," even though eh still is and he's proud of that even though it took him a while to realize that it was okay to be proud of who he was. Currently, he's shooting the music video for "Invisible" at a high school and offers his own story as hope to help others. He managed to make it through everything in his childhood. He was an outcast because of his love for music, just like Taylor Swift (who he toured with on her Speak Now tour). The twenty-two year old country heartthrob has proved to me and many other of his dedicated fans that even though things seem to get though right now and it seems like no one understands, "there's so much more to life than what you're feeling now."

Taylor Swift has done the same as Lovato and Hayes. Turning to music is one of the best decisions that she has ever taken because not only is she a super star, but she's helped others find a way to avoid the thoughts of suicide. Her banjo-tuned song "Mean" explains how people look at her flaws and try to break her down. Her music video for the song gives perspectives of four different people, a nerd who becomes a fashion designer, a girl who works to save money for college, a small girl who wants to make new friends, and herself where she includes herself in a small country band but in the end she's "famous" and singing on Broadway.

Directioners, the name of the One Direction fandom, look up to Liam James Payne. "He'll always be important to me," Directioner Megan Vacante texted me when I personally asked her why she looked up to Liam Payne, "Liam was born dead. He went to a gym to learn how to fight so he could defend himself from the bullies. He lived with just one kidney for years and he was rejected 22 times. He never gave up. It's hard to believe that people don't even know who I'm talk about when I mention all of this. Liam is my Batman . . . He's my everything."

In the end, each singer has turned to music to escape reality. It's almost like they're meditating as soon as they step into the studio to record a new song or when they step on stage to sing for millions of fans. I asked a question to my followers on Twitter about how they felt about bulling and many either tweeted me back or subtweeted. "I don't think people realize that words cut deeper than any wound..." tweeted Mya Taylor from Indiana. She's a former Hayniac and Lovativ, not to mention that she is one of the many followers who have been affected by bullies. When I personally asked her about her role model that has helped her with avoiding the bullies she answered, "Hunter Hayes. He isn't like the rest of the singers. He's saved me in way that no one can understand. He talks about simple, crazy love, being single, and telling us it's okay to be ourselves." A few days laters after she relapsed, she texted me about a huge realization that she had, "Tonight I turned on Hunter's music instead of picking up the blade and it helped me realize that maybe I don't know what I'm here for or why, but God put me here for a reason and I can't leave yet. Maybe I'm not the prettiest girl or the nicest one, but I'm worth something, regardless of my past. The bullies won't matter when I'm older. They'll be like dust."

"Hunter Hayes saved me."

"Most heroes wear capes. Mine wears Converse, drinks coffee, plays over 32 instruments, and he's from Breaux Bridge."

"Taylor Swift is my role model. She was there when no one else was."

"Demi Lovato gave me a reason to live."

"One Direction's there for me. They are my voice."

It's always the same. Singers save lives just by using words for good and adding a beat to them. Words are powerful and only you can choose how they will be used. Words, if used for the wrong reason, make people do things that they can regret, and if used for the righ treason, save people's lives.

Think about it.

Are you willing to say what you think knowing that you couldn't stand to know that was the last thing you ever said to someone?

Think before you speak. You will never know or understand what could be going on in someone's life. Think before talking about someone's idol.

It could be their only reason for being here.
*Note: The story at the beginning of this article is true, but it a combination of the feelings of many people as well as my own. All of these emotions and thoughts have been combined to create one character. Names in the story have been changed for personal reasons and/or for the protection of the people.