Non-fiction Article

               
         I currently read an article about a 11 year old boy named Jaheem Herrera. However, after
coming home from school on April 16th, he attempted the most unthinkable thing. Suicide. Thousands of teenagers take their own lives each year due to bullying.

      On April 16th, Jaheem came back from school all happy-like. He raced up to his room, and when was called for dinner he never came down-stairs. He was found hung in his room. This story touched me so much. What concerns me, is the fact that Jaheem hid all his emotions so well. His mother talked about how "he came home much happier than when he left in the morning, smiling as he handed his mother, Masika Bermudez, a glowing report card full of A's and B's. She gave him a high-five and he went upstairs to his room as she prepared dinner". This makes me think how we never truly know what a person is going through, until we actually get to really-really know them. We judge people all the time based off their looks and their attitude, before we actually sit down and have a talk with that person. Jaheem's suicide was unexpected, nobody would've ever guessed that his happy-smiles on the 16th would soon lead to his death. Jaheem constantly complained to his mother about the bullying issues in his school. He was called "gay, and ugly". The words people called him, pushed him to an edge. "He told me, but he just got to the point where he didn't want me to get involved anymore because nothing was done," said his mother. I however feel differently. His mother also said that she complained to the school 7-8 times, but there was nothing done. I feel like his mother just stopped trying. If he was my child, I would've went to the school ever day if I had too. If his mother would've went to the school a few more times, than maybe those extra times would've saved his life. She quit too soon. My heart goes out to his family, because what they're going through is awful but the least she would've done is switched him to a different school, because no one deserves to die at such a young age. His mother also talked about Jaheem thinking how nobody wanted to help him, or stand up for him. When I read that part, I honestly felt so bad. If one person would've been a friend to him, or if just one person stood up for him or said something than maybe April 16th would just be any ordinary day.  

        After Jaheem's death, the school board expressed condolences, saying the school staff "works diligently to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all students." This quote makes me sick. When some one is still alive ( for example Jaheem) and they go through outrageous amounts of bullying, the school doesn't cut right to the chase and stop the bullying. In most cases, schools don't even do anything and the bullying continues. However, right after somebody committed suicide the school goes all in and out, and tries too provide a better environment for students, and programs that help against bullying. I find this so unfair, because if Jaheem's school would've done something before his death NOT after, than he wouldn't have took his own life. Schools need to pay much more of their attention to the victims of bullying, and help out in any way possible before things go too far.

     Jaheem's story is so terrible, and nobody should go through something like that. So I definitely think that his story is a lesson to so many others. You really have to think about what you say to some one, because words really do hurt.