A Different View of 13 Reasons Why

A Different View of 13 Reasons Why

Jalen Flaherty, Staff Writer

This poem was written kind of in response to 13 Reasons Why. I read the book and am now watching the show, and I decided to write this after I finished the first season:

 

Knock knock knock

Can you come out to play

Let’s sing that old rhyme

About an old man and a rainy day

I miss jumping rope

And playing hangman seeing

Who could write the letter faster

P.S I can

But last week you weren’t at school

And you weren’t at home too

So the sky seemed to turn

An eerie shade of blue

My mom said you went upstairs

But you had a one story home

I bet you were grounded but

At your window I threw stones

You took our jumping rope

And made another game

You played hangman without me

You made it look like child’s play

Knock knock knock

Can you come out today

Heaven doesn’t look so far

Come out and play

 

This might seem a bit too dark, but there is a very important point that I’m going to get to. It’s clear to me that 13 Reasons Why has made a huge impact today. The realness of it makes everyone who watches it face the ugly truth. No cover ups, no romanticizing, just an honest view of what suicide is.

In today’s society, especially in high school, it’s so common to poke fun, or joke about a real problem. It’s like everyone’s too afraid to face the fact that this is a real issue that can plague the people around us. Now, however, there is a show that is spreading that gives a brilliant view of someone who lives a life as best as she could, but ends her life. Someone who was abused, and ends her life, and this show portrays that abuse and shows her pain. And that is my reason for writing this poem. Too often we avoid talking about painful, hard to grasp things because it’s easier, but suicide isn’t easy.

We need the truth, we need to see the pain and then maybe we’ll learn to be kind to the people around us a little more. We can learn to understand the signs of someone struggling and actually have the motive and empathy to work towards making that person’s day a little brighter.