Upon hearing of this story, I was moved to tears. I was appalled. I was disgusted... Like most of the world. It's an emotionally charged story that makes for incredibly hard reading. However, it is a story that we must pay attention to, as it reflects the frightening new depths that our society is willing to sink to.
Like many teens, Jamey was an avid blogger and enjoyed talking to his peers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The only difference (or perhaps, another similarity) between him and the rest of us is his sexuality... a difference that his classmates soon used as a pathetic excuse to abuse this poor young boy.
When Jamey blogged about his experiences with bullying, he was merely met with another wave of insults and nasty comments from his tormentors.
Bullies wrote...
“I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it … It would make everyone WAY more happier.
"Go kill yourself, you're worthless, ugly and don't have a point to live."There is no excuse for these kind of comments. They are tasteless, sick and down-right inappropriate. Telling someone that people wouldn't only be indifferent to their deaths, but would actually be happier as a result, is not only untrue, but incredibly malicious.
Feeling alone and hate upon, Jamey asked his online friends what it would take for him to be taken seriously:
"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. What do I have to do so people will listen to me?"In a perfect world, Jamey wouldn't have been bullied in the first-place.
In a just world, Jamey would have got the support he not only wanted, but needed as soon as the bullying began to get out of hand.
Instead, Jamey felt abused and alone, with only his friends and Lady Gaga's music to support him.
Lady Gaga was one of his biggest influences, whom he thanked both in his It Gets Better video and his final tweet. The hope that he seems to have in the video for the future was tragically lost, or rather, destroyed by the homophobes around him.
The homophobes need to realise that their words and actions resulted in a death of an innocent young boy, and there's nothing that they can do or say that can bring him back to his friends or his family...
You can't hide from the truth, and the truth is... they are the reason that he's not alive right now.
They cannot hide behind their religion.
They cannot hide behind their pathetic reasoning.
They cannot hide behind their opinions.
There is no-where to hide, the truth tears through every single one of their measly excuses. There is no excuse for homophobia. A life is precious, regardless of the ethnicity, sexuality, personality, religion, tastes, opinions or morals of the person. Homophobic comments make people feel like pieces of dirt, and why? Because they dare to love someone? The only difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals is the gender of the people we love. And if that's a good enough reason to hate someone, then my heart truly breaks for how truly pathetic humanity has become.
One of Jamey's last posts were lyrics to Lady Gaga's 'The Queen', in which he almost makes a plea to his friends and his family not to forget him.
"Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door"Word of Jamey's tragic tale spread like wild fire through the social media, reaching two of his idols, Lady Gaga and Hayley Williams, in a matter of days.
HAYLEY WILLIAMS: Realized that Jamey and I had actually spoken on twitter before... Puts it in an entirely new perspective knowing we connected at one point. My heart is broken for him.
LADY GAGA: The past days I've spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someones life. Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 yrs old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become be illegal. It is a hate crime.
MSRACHELGARNER: I never got to meet you, never got to know you but i still love you.#makealawforjamey
ISPEAKTHEFAME: Life is hard but there's always someone that will listen. Be strong and never let bullies win. Rest in peace Jamey Rodemeyer.
DIXON MUNRO: Rest in peace Jamey Rodemeyer. You beautiful soul.
Only a tiny majority of people affected by his story actually knew him in real life, and yet, we treat his death as if he was one of our own friends... one of our own family...
A generation weeps for a boy we never knew, naively praying for these tears to be the last.
