Last Friday, Abraham Biggs, a 19 year old college student, committed suicide streaming live on Justin.tv in Miami, Florida. A friend emailed me the story that made AOL News, but nothing I heard about on local news.
After reading the story I had to consider what I would do if I were watching someone streaming live on the internet who was threatening suicide. Having never been faced with this type of situation, I don’t think I can say what I would do, I would like to think I would contact the website administrator to contact authorities because they would most likely have the information on the individual person to better direct the police to this person’s location so that they could receive the proper help.
But, because I was not watching this I can only speculate what my actions, or reaction would be. In reading the accompanying article, it’s said that he’s threatened suicide on numerous occasions, I can only believe that these people were regulars in chatting and corresponding with Mr. Biggs. If that is the case, I can only say to those who did nothing, “Shame on you!” Regardless if the threat has been made previously or not, a threat of suicide is a cry for help. Clearly, no one answered that call until it was too late for Mr. Biggs.
Further, there were some who egged him on! Can you believe we have such callous people in our society? I guess it’s naive of me to believe otherwise but I am horrified that someone would encourage another to end their life.
Having been touched by the affects of suicide in my personal life as a teenager, I can tell you that losing someone you love to suicide has lasting effects on a person’s psyche. I cannot fathom losing a child to suicide. Rosalind Biggs, Mr. Biggs sister has lost a brother, and says in the article that she does not understand and that it was unexpected.
There is no understanding the motives of suicide, and it is NEVER expected. She will always be left with questions, with “Why?” and trying to grasp at reasons, something to justify what happened. But there is no justification, he has robbed his sister, his parents and nieces of a future with him, watching him turn into a man, raise a family of his own and grow old.
So I ask you, What would you do?
