Reach out and touch someone

Schools are full of questions. I remember being asked, "What is the value for x in this equation?" "What were the causes of the Civil War?" "¿Dónde está la
biblioteca?" "What are some examples of alliteration in 'Romeo and Juliet'?" and, "What were you doing outside smoking during fifth period?"

There are good answers for all of these, except the last one.

But recently a troubled young soul in a Denver high school scribbled a question on a bathroom wall, and rather than let her voice ring out in an empty room, a teacher stepped in to help her get answers.

Ashley Ferraro, an English teacher at Golden High, saw this message on a girls' room wall recently:

 "Is life worth all the Bulls..t?"

And Ms Ferraro came up big. She invited students to write words of encouragement on sticky notes and sticky those words where the original questioner could see them.


And in less time than it takes Jennifer Lopez to change her clothes seven times, more than 50 notes encircled the original, all with worthwhile words.

One note says, "Yes, because you will find love in your future...in yourself...and in your favorite things to do and the small things in life."

Someone else contributed, "Life is worth it because even if it's bad there is always a good. We were all put here for a reason, we all go through something tough. It always gets better."

"I was really impressed with how many kids participated," Ms Ferraro said. "And the ones you would never expect to participate... did."
 
Next up is the plan to move the notes from the lavatory to the hallway adjacent, where all the students and staff can share, and add, and take heart from the words of others.

"My hope is that it isn't such an isolated feeling -- so people don't think they're the only ones feeling that way and to reach out for help," Ferraro said on CNN. "It provided an opportunity to help someone in pain."

She relishes working with the type of kids who see another student in pain -- and choose to help.

And now, Golden High student Hannah Blackman plans to take the hope engendered at Golden to even bigger "walls"  - the worldwide wall of the world wide web.

"When I saw the sticky notes, I thought it would be something amazing to start a movement. I figured I could use social media to spread the word even further about suicide prevention and giving help to those that need it."

Hannah is a sophomore, and she is starting a Facebook fundraiser for Suicide Prevention and Crisis services.

Please don't try to sell me on the notion that young people today are unfeeling, uncaring, solipsistic horrors. I see this sort of reaction and I feel better about the future.