Since I only know of one person who reads my blogs, I’m feeling quick free to speak my mind, especially today.
I went to a memorial for a 14-year-old girl, granddaughter of a friend of mine. How odd to attend one of these where not only were there adult goodies for visitors to snack on, but pizza and containers of gummy bears, Skittles, jubes, M&M mini-chocolates, etc. The place was packed, arranged by the local police who are actively looking into this case of bullying.
Sadie died in early January 2024 after ingesting over 100 anti-depressants, prescribed to her. I am very light on details of Sadie’s history. She suffered bullying at her school, was in therapy, moved to a new school, then after an “incident” with a group of four other girls with a “leader”, that caused enough fear about “something” going up on Facebook, Sadie went home and over the night took all the pills.
After three days on a respirator and life support, she was declared brain dead and was taken off the machines.
She was the ONLY child of her parents. Needless to say, the parents were beside themselves and my friend was in tears 90% of the time. Seeing Sadie’s beautiful rock collection displayed on a table reminded me of Meghan’s rock collection and, for a brief moment, I allowed the thought that this would be part of Meghan’s memorial, but I quickly moved my mind along.
I could not move my mind away from this thought though: Who is to blame for this, because someone is!
- THE DOCTOR: What doctor in their right mind would prescribe that many anti-depressants to be put into one bottle and given to a depressed teenager under his/her care? Did the doctor warn the parents to keep the pills under lock and key and only give Sadie the prescribed dosage?
- THE BULLY: The police found the bully to issued the fatal blow. The bully called Sadie parents to apologize, but the reports are that the apology was insincere. The mother of the bully called Sadie’s parents as well. Sadie’s mother reportedly told the bully’s mother to never call again. The case is being investigated.
- THE PARENTS: Who handed over the bottle of pills to a 14-year-old depressed girl with the misguided oblivious notion that there was not chance Sadie would down the whole bottle? Were they in denial, truly believing their daughter was too smart to do something so stupid. When I was 14 I did lots of stupid things and I truly believe my parents NEVER thought I was smart enough not to do them. My parents were absolutely right about me – I was a naive, blob of play-doh, just waiting for others to help me form my life. They feared for my safety. And even though I went ahead and did whatever I wanted to, I always was keenly aware of their fear and I believe that kept me from falling off the edge of the cliff. However, I did not live in a social media world.
- FACEBOOK: Why is it that things that go up on Facebook are so devasting? Isn’t that what BLOCK, SPAM, REPORT is for? Facebook (along with TikTok and others) are currently being sued by 4 school boards in the Greater Toronto Area for knowingly creating and executing a way of rewiring vulnerable brains, leaving the teachers to clean up the mess. Facebook has claimed that their parental-permission check box is their leading edge way curtail this, but they are missing the point. Because parents are smart enough to know that social media giants are actually REWIRING brains to believe that life is Facebook, TikToc, Instagram, X, etc. Social media was just coming out when my daughter was a teen. There were a few times, late into the evening when Meghan was on the computer, and she would read something on My Space perhaps, and she’d go charging out the door into the night to comfort a friend and face off with someone. I discovered quickly how to set the router to cut the internet to her computer by a certain time. But that only made her walk out the door.
Well, that’s enough for now.