Anytime I think of someone young dying, I immediately think of Kelly Rowland's song "Stole" from 2002. Ashley Duncan was only 17 when she decided to end her own life. But this isn't just an ordinary suicide, she had been thinking about taking her life away for some time. Ashley Duncan was a well known student at Bellaire High School in Houston, TX. She had been posting to twitter and tumblr about how she wanted to end her life before she actually did.
"Life ain't worth the pain. if you know or have known what it feels like to want to die every minute second hour day week month year then you feel me…. I might not struggle financially but I struggle emotionally and mentally and I think that’s the worst struggle," Duncan wrote on Tumblr Sunday. "So in asking why can’t it be my choice to die now? … I’m miserable. One day I won’t be here anymore and that’ll be the happiest day of my life… I’m tired and I’m done with this life."
She had also posted to twitter that same day that she felt like God was punishing her for keeping her alive. All of this took place this past Sunday, then on Monday she ended her life after finding a gun. She even tweeted that she had found the gun. Later she had posted on Tumblr that she was ready to end her life and left her followers with one word... "Peace".
What makes this so different from other situations like this is that she played everything out over various social networks and none of her followers took her seriously. Different students at her school were saying they thought she was joking because she was known for joking and playing around. She had previously left Bellaire High School in October 2011 and was attending Pershing High School in hopes of graduating early, so no one really knows what was bothering her to push her so far.
The sad thing about this situation is the fact that she put it out there that she was going to do this and no one heard her cry for help. To know that she posted all the things on Tumblr and twitter, and NO ONE took her seriously says so much. I don't know if these issues that were bothering her were the cause for her switching schools or what, who knows what was going on in her life... but the fact that she posted about all of this on social networks should have opened some eyes. I don't think my friends would have took me as a joke if I had said all of these things, or at least I know someone would have checked to make sure I was good rather than laughing about it with me.
It's a really sad situation that her life ended so soon and so publicly, and I wonder how the people that know her and read her posts feel. That just goes to show you that you never know what anyone is going through, but if someone you know threatens to take their own life then you should definitely take them seriously because you never know their pain. It's bad enough that this teenager struggled with the thoughts of suicide, but for her to publicize her thoughts and no one hear her cry is just crazy to me. Everyone should say a prayer for her soul, her family and her friends and let's hope that this sends a message to the world that life is to be taken seriously.
Below are a screenshot of her tweets before she took her life and I've also posted the video of Kelly's single "Stole". Feel free to leave your thoughts or any comments you have about this situation below.
♥ Rest In Peace Ashley Duncan ♥
XOXO,
LaBellaBoss ♥
