In “Karen’s” article “50 Reasons to Live” of the September issue of Teen Ink, Karen was only fourteen years old when she did not have the desire to live anymore and considered suicide. One night she took out a piece of paper and attempted to write her first draft of a suicide note. However, Karen couldn’t do it. Instead, she wrote fifty reasons to live. After finishing the list, Karen did not have the will to take her life anymore.

The thought of suicide is something that I think I will never be able to understand. I just don’t get it. I do not understand how a person can feel so low of himself that it is worth it to take his life, especially at such a young age when there is so much more ahead. The quote that Karen’s teacher stated, “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary condition,” really jumped out at me because it is so true! Suicide can always be prevented, and even though it may be a hard adversity to overcome, all it takes is for that person to talk about what they’re experiencing with someone or someone who notices something suspicious to step in and talk to them or pick them up. When Karen mentioned in her article that she was even too messed up for the counselor that she got kicked out, that blew my mind! I feel that’s just awful. Dealing with those type of situations is a counselor’s job. What if Karen really did end up pulling the plug on life? Can you imagine how bad or guilty that counselor would have felt? I don’t know how I would be able to forgive myself if that were me. Like I said before, I don’t think I will ever be able to understand why people commit suicide because I have never experienced the pain or feelings that they’ve had. Of course there’s moments where I feel worthless, helpless, stupid, or ugly, but I know that I am so fortunate to have wonderful friends and family who make me feel special and remind me that I do have a purpose in life. If I ever suspect something in someone with thoughts of suicide, I will help that person out in a heartbeat because suicide is an unnecessary decision to a solvable problem. Although the scary thing is that it’s the kids people wouldn’t ever expect to do it that usually would, like Karen.