Years ago, I used to be uptight and the kind to share my feelings unfiltered. I didn't ever consider the feelings of other people very much. I wasn't all that insensitive, though. I was pretty much a kid, and I was mostly ignorant about how to be tactful in my interactions with people.
A couple of life's experiences and growing up helped me learn to be much better. And something that contributed to the paradigm shift was the television series 13 Reasons Why. It was in that show that I really saw the ripple effect our words and actions have on people and why there's a need to be more intentional and thoughtful with them.
A lady dies by suicide. Apparently, she had been influenced by certain experiences with high school students like herself. In thirteen tapes, she explains her reason why she "did it." Each tape describes her mostly awful experiences with certain individuals, such as rape and bullying. After she dies, the tapes haunt the concerned individuals and spiral into a series of events in their high school, most of them unsettling and tragic.
What kids go through these days, mostly teenagers, can be critically concerning. Amongst themselves, some are subjected to emotional trauma owing to how society is built now.
The film portrays different types of kids, their different types of issues, and how they can cross paths. One kid is often bullied by his father, and that affects how he responds to provoking situations somehow. Another, with dark thoughts and emotions welling up within him and inadequately attended to, is led up to a point of becoming an active shooter and threatening the lives of many.
Compounded by the trauma of losing someone he loved, a kid grew to develop a psychological condition resembling mental dissonance. Raped at a very young age, another had been left scarred for life and developed a rather impulsive personality that would somehow contribute to someone's suicide. Another, deserving of a lot of his suffering for grave offences, probably got a little too much and led to his premature death, despite being sober eventually.
The list can go on and on about the film, but I'd rather not have your patience wane and tell you that my biggest takeaway from the film is that one has to make a conscious effort to be empathetic and sensitive when dealing with people. People fight wars in their minds, and all we need is a little more love in the world.
When the song The Night We Met starts playing, many scenes and emotions I felt in the film come gushing through my mind. I am reminded of the many things I watched and learned from 13 Reasons Why.
Now I try to make conscious efforts to guide my every-day decisions and interactions with people, not for fear of what people may think of me but from the perspective of being responsible with my actions. Amongst the experiences that I have learned from, this film enlightened me to be better, and the song by Lord Huron, The Night We Met, serves as a reminder when it comes on.
After contemplating long on which song to enter this week's Dreem-WOTW contest, I thought that an introspective look at the person I am evolving into would be aptly represented through this song.
For me, the first few seconds into the song send shivers down my spine, and many parts of the series replay in my mind, giving me goosebumps. It was a recurring song in the film. It is not just about the film, however, but the realities of life and the lessons thereon.
Empathy, patience, compassion, kindness, and forgiveness, among many other virtues, can do a lot more to make this world a better place. Love and light, dear reader. Love and light.
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