Pain and Sorrow

By: Jared Valencia

Some days he would wake up feeling lonely, with no one around to help him out. He would stay up at night crying from the pain he was going through. A lot of people have experienced depression. This very intense severe feeling of despondency and dejection. Damien Torres, a senior at Yerba Buena High School, knows first handed what it feels like to suffer from depression.

As a child, Damien grew up living in Santa clara. He said, “ Moving from Santa Clara to San Jose was hard and I was sad.” He moved with his Mom, his brother Jamie, and his older sister Alexus.

Moving from one place to another is hard especially at a young age. By the time Damien and his family moved to San Jose he already had a lot on his mind. Being the new kid around he would find himself getting bullied, no kid should be going through that at all.

Kids are supposed to be stress free because they have nothing to worry about, but in reality that's not how it is for kids. There are millions of children and teens annually, who suffer from depression and get bullied and have no idea how to deal with it.

Having that much stress at such a young age is very harmful. Damien had no idea what was happening to him while going through this depression and he thought no one would be able to help him out.

All this stress, getting bullied, and having to deal with that without having anyone to help him drove Damien to the verge of suicide. “ I had a bottle of pills I was going to drink, But then my sister stopped me in time,” says Damien. His sister Alexus stopped Damien from drinking the bottle of pills. I can’t imagine what Damien was going through at this point but luckily his sister was there for him.

After that day Damien's mind and perspective about life changed. He values the life he has been given and regrets the thought of almost taking his own precious life away.

Damien now has a girlfriend and he says “ She has helped me found a happy spot in life.”

Although Damien had major depression and was on the verge of suicide, there was still a way to help him. There are many kids, children, and teens who are out there and think no one can help them. They think they only have one option and that is suicide. You can be helped no matter what the cause, seek help, and never ever give up.

“Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better” - Anonymous