Be that one person.

So many things happen in the world every second. We pass so many strangers on the streets, sit by so many different people on the bus, hear so many voices saying so many different things, and silently judge people based on their appearance or the words that come out of their mouths. But who are we to judge when we don't know the person's story? How can we ever know a person before we have walked in his or her shoes?

A 12-year-old girl in Florida named Rebecca Sedwick committed suicide this past Monday, September 9th, after more than a year of being tormented, threatened, and abused online by a group of 15-year-olds who urged her to end her life. She was one of the youngest people added to the growing list of teens and children who committed suicide. Attempting to stop the bullying, her mother changed Rebecca's cell phone number, deleted her Facebook account, put her in a different school, and tried as best as she could to keep up with her daughter's social activity. But Rebecca had found loopholes to other social media sites and had been interacting with her peers by posting pictures and messages to which she received only death threats and comments about how ugly she was. Her peers asked her questions like "why are you still alive? Can you please just go die? Why are you so ugly?" Being a 12-year-old, she kept it all from her mother, whom she predicted would just take her phone away and make her remain as isolated to the world as humanly possible. Left to bear this pain alone, she grappled with self-hatred to the point of being so overwhelmed that she was driven to end her own life.

Rebecca was a typical 12-year-old girl who wanted to audition for the school chorus and try out for the cheerleading team. She wanted to fit in. She wanted friends. Can you imagine how many people would have seen the hateful comments on her social media accounts, shrugged, and just clicked on the next link? How many people passed by her every day, pretending not to see the cuts on her arm that she with the razor blades she had at home, looking her up and down and mentally picking out every single flaw on her body? How many voices would it have taken to stop Rebecca from killing herself? Perhaps just one. Maybe all it would have taken was just one person to stop, look her in the eyes, and say, "You look really nice today." That would have given her a glimmer of hope, a small spark that could have grown into a huge fire.

How many people have you passed by today? How many voices have you heard today? What was your attitude, what did you say, and what did you do? Whether we realize it or not, we pass by so many people who are burying years of scars and pain deep inside themselves, wishing they were someone else, or wishing someone to come by who would appreciate the way they are. Maybe your attitude can change a person's mind about committing suicide the next morning, or even in the next hour. Be that one voice, be that one person who will shatter the lies of self-hatred that a person is facing, and realize how much power your words and your attitude can have on people you interact with. We don't know a person's story just by looking at them. So who are we to judge? How many more people must be driven to end their own lives before we realize what an impact each of our decisions can have on the people around us?