Dear, President

I think there is an issue with the way our society is set up. Theres many adults and teens all over the U.S. that struggle with depression but don’t want to get help for it. I have a feeling that if we have you as a president you could do something to change that. There are families that have lost their loved ones to suicide. My dad lost his cousin to suicide. It hurt me to see him hurting and that’s the worse thing I have ever had to deal with. I don’t want more people to lose their lives over people who are treating them like crap to make themselves feel better.

Yeah I get that there may be nothing you could do but this is a big issue for me and probably many people across the world. Every time I hear people making jokes about cutting, depression, suicide, etc. It makes me upset because they don’t really know what the people around them are feeling and how they will take it.There was this kid that is in one of my classes that thinks it’s all fun and games but finally I told him to stop saying all that because it’s not a joke at all. That he doesn’t know how other people are feeling when he says those things. Most of the time now I just ignore it but for those who constantly get told to go kill themselves because they deserve it or whatever needs to change. I dont think its okay and no one else should either.

I want there to be more places all over the world where teens can feel comfortable talking to someone like it’s their best friend. I share everything with my best friend and she is like the only person I can actually feel comfortable with talking to about all that. My mom saw the cuts on my wrist one time and it was hard trying to talk to her about what was going on because i didn’t want her to think it was all her fault. I used to see my mom cry when her and my dad got into fights and it was the crappiest feeling i’ve ever had. I wouldn’t want her to cry and see her like that. She asked about it and I started crying and didn’t want to talk about it and she understood thankfully because when she was a teenager she had some things that were really bad happen to her. She lived with her mom, it was just them living in a house and as her mom got sick she had to be the one to take care of everything. So I get it that she has had way worse then I have but I still get and have depression. My sister struggled really bad with it. She had to go to the psych ward twice is what she told me when me and her were having a talk about everything. We talked for like an hour just about struggling with depression. I just don’t think that all these people that struggle with depression and are thinking of suicide deserve it. I could say more and get into more detail but i’m just gonna leave it at that. Thank you for listening.

Sincerely, Mya H.

14, Billings, MT