Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Forgiveness, yes or no?

I believe a teenager who takes their own life to escape adolescent pressures should be forgiven. I had a friend who took her own life because her family life was not the best. She was thirteen, it was 2008, her name was Natalie. Her dad was a drunk and her mom did drugs. She was never wanted around and spent most of her life at her friends houses. Her dad left in 2007 and that is when her mom really hit rock bottom, she started doing more drugs and became very unhealthy. At one point, she became pregnant and lost the baby due to drugs. Natalie could not take anymore. She had no other family, her mom would not put her up for adoption, and the courts were not doing anything to help. Natalie stopped coming to school. She would come over everyday and we would talk for hours. My dad treated her like she was his daughter and said if she ever got away from her mom, she could come live with us. He did not want her to be considered a runaway though. Natalie told me and the rest of her close friends that life was getting too hard. On the night of June 17, 2008, I stayed up all night talking to her on the phone. I let her know that so many people love and care about her. She let me know that she was going to be okay. The next day, I got a phone call telling me that she had taken her own life. In that moment, I knew I had lost my best friend and felt it was my fault for not doing more. I was lost without her. I had nightmares about it for years. I forgave her because I know the pain she felt, there was no way to get out of it and she wasn't happy. I hope she is in a better place and is doing much better.