Rachael Tried to Be a Light On the Darkest Day

Full Name: Rachael Hamad

Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

Age: 14 (almost 15!)

Tell Me About Your Strength!

On November 10, 2016, I walked into school on what I thought was a normal 8th grade day. My friend and I were walking to homeroom all cheery, but when I walked into the classroom, my mood drastically changed. All of my classmates were crying uncontrollably and I had no idea what to do. I was so confused as to what was happening. I asked one of the girls in my class what was going on. She told me that a 7th grade boy on the football team had committed suicide.

I practically went into shock. I had heard of this boy but I didn’t know him very well. Even though I only heard of his name and knew his face, it made an impact on me. The rest of that day, my classmates and I went to many counselors, the principal, and other members of the school staff. They were trying to help us make sense of what had just happened, but it didn’t really help.

I couldn’t grasp the incident.

I talked to some of his friends and teammates on the football team and they didn’t understand either. They said he was relatively happy all the time and didn’t seem like he was going through anything so bad that he would make the choice to kill himself. This made me realize that people, not only in my generation, but everyone, need to be nice to everyone around them. They don’t know what others are going through and we need to treat others the way that we want to be treated. I know this phrase is used a lot, but it’s so true, and I can’t express it enough. You never know what’s going through someone’s mind and we need to realize that.

That day, my friends came to me to talk about this. They recognized my strength of being able to talk to others easily and being able to help. I helped them through the day, and tried to make them a bit happier even though it wasn’t easy. My goal was to put a smile on their faces and get through the horrible day that changed us all.