Tonight was my birthday party, and after we went to my friend's house and watched Netflix. We started American Horror Story (then we started watching something funny, because honestly, scary movies are awful) because we were all curious, we didn't get to the climax of the episode, and it hadn't reached the scary part. Something really bugged me about this show.
The Dad was a psychiatrist, and he was working with this really depressed kid. The psychiatrist's daughter was also depressed, and she cut herself. The thing that got to me was they showed some of it, the blades, blood. Then they showed the two kids talking about it.
No warning. No warning at the beginning of the episode saying that this contains graphic material, caution to viewers, contains triggers. Nothing.
Now, for me, it wasn't a trigger. But to thousands of kids out there watching this crap, it was. How many kids saw this first episode and cut themselves? Not because something bad happened to them, but because cutting is their go-to release and they saw it. They were doing okay, until they saw it. They didn't think about it, until they saw it.
Thousands of kids watch this show that are 10, 11, 12. Way too young. The moment their eyes see this young girl slit her skin because she is in emotional pain, it's in their impressionable minds forever. The first time they experience a legitimate hard time, their brain is going to bring them back to that. Then, because of a TV show, one, two, three more kids start putting scars into their bodies.
What makes me angry, is that they (the producers of this TV show, American Horror Story) made it look like a joke, like its nothing serious, like it is okay.
It's not.
This subject of "self-harm" is a very unpleasant and gruesome topic. Too many people make it out to be no big deal. It is. It's huge. The term "self-harm" even softens it up because America doesn't want to deal with something like that, it's too hard and bad. It's cutting. It's burning. It's even pulling arm hair or pinching your skin. It's anorexia, bulimia. Self hatred.
Don't sit there, knowing what's going on and close your eyes because it's too ugly. I can almost guarantee that you know someone who is cutting themselves, thinking about it, hating themselves.
It's not an easy subject. It's a hard, scary, and ugly subject. But don't close your eyes. Kids, young adults, they, we, need your help. Not fluffy stuff like "You're beautiful, don't hate yourself", that does not work. We need to you pull up our sleeves and check our skin. We need you to come to us when we seem down. We need you to, if it's not getting better, take us to a counselor. We need you to pray for us. We need you to not be afraid and/or ashamed of us. We need you to not get angry when we mess up and cut again. We need you, unaware teens, to not look at our scars like we're freaks. We need you to be bold and ask us what makes us do it, what make us feel this way, then when you find out, do something.
We need help, and we want help. But we won't tell you. We aren't strong enough, we can't hold ourselves together, we can't come to you. We need you to come to us. Please.
Don't shut your eyes to it because it darkens your life, bring the brightness of your life into our darkens. Show us what love is, love us, like Jesus does. Even though He should be enough, He's isn't always to us. We need you to show us how to make Him enough. How can you show us, when you can't see us?
America, don't close your eyes. We act invisible, but all we want is to be seen, loved, helped.
