Arnoxthe1 said:
I'm just browsing stuff on FunnyJunk today, having a few laughs. Then I get to this [http://www.funnyjunk.com/channel/feels/Friends+from+Great+Places/XyawGKl/]. At first glance, this seems like a great comic. But the more I thought about it, the more bitter I got.
In the end, it just reminded me that this world is a dark place. It won't save you. The odds of coming across someone that cool right at that moment are astronomical. Further, this kid is committing suicide because some kids pick on him and he's got a harsh mommy. SO WHAT?! He thinks he has it bad. And this girl, she's too good. A lot of people spent a good chunk of their lives trying to find someone like that. And he just catches the attention of one right away.
Maybe we should all look for the nearest bridge to jump off of and wait for someone amazing to hug us and tell us everything will be alright. Maybe bake us some chocolate chip cookies too and then we'll all ride off into the sunset on our big ****ing rainbow unicorn. No, I don't accept it. It's too good. And his plight is too pathetic for me to sympathize with.
Look, I know exactly what you're thinking. It's just a comic, right? Definitely. And I've been trying to get myself to ignore it but I can't stop thinking about how grossly unrealistic it is. Anyway, sorry for the rant but I felt like I had to write this to get it out of my mind...
*sigh*
Meh. Yeah, the (fictional) kid's reasons for contemplating suicide seems petty to us, but I'm going to cut him some slack since he looks young. It doesn't seem like he's being aggressively stupid (eg. asking your friends to bury you in the sand so you can "be like Gaara" and then suffocating to death) or narcissistic (eg. thinking suicide will immortalize you and "really show those guys"). He just seems depressed. When you're a kid, you have no concept of perspective, you don't really have enough life experience or knowledge of the world around you to draw from. He probably doesn't even have a concept of what it's like outside his hometown, let alone the rest of his life. Family... school... friends... that's pretty much the big three of your childhood. If he's (seemingly) deficient in all three, I can understand why he feels everything is pointless and/or hopeless. I had a great childhood, who am I to call him out on his (perceived) lack thereof? Don't get me wrong, I still think it's INCREDIBLY STUPID, but I understand his motivation. And the girl? C'mon, he appears to be in/near a big city. Someone is going to see him. The reason why he is just perched on the edge in the first place is because he wants to be talked down from there, otherwise he would've just jumped immediately. And this:
Maybe we should all look for the nearest bridge to jump off of and wait for someone amazing to hug us and tell us everything will be alright.
When you're trying to talk down a suicide, you'll say anything to get them down. You don't necessary need to mean it or even have a working knowledge of it. You don't even need to stick around when it's over. YOU JUST WANT THEM TO STEP DOWN. The girl's connection with him isn't necessarily "convenient", it's desperation.
THAT BEING SAID: I hated the writing in the comic and the forced sentimentality it failed to convey. Forced sentimentality (as in half-baked or lazy forced sentimentality a la one of Adam Sandler's more recent pandering fun-for-the-whole-family comedies) is one of my pet peeves, either go unapologetically all out with it or make it subdued enough that I would believe it could happen in real life. Do the Ghost from Christmas Future trope. Replace the girl with an older guy (college aged or older) and have him casually leaning against the rail next to the kid disinterestedly. Have him not attempt to even stop the kid, but relate how petty the kid's reasons are for wanting to commit suicide. Have him then launch into an explanation that sometime in the future the kid will grow up, make up with his parents, gain friends, go away to college, find someone he loves, find hobbies he likes, and maybe even find fulfilling career prospects and how he will look toward to the future. Something along the lines of how time changes everything, hindsight makes fools out of all of us, and that there will be both good and bad times etc. Then have him walk away and while the kid asks "How do you know all of this?", to which the guy will turn around and say "Because it's already happened to me." before disappearing.