Mark Salling, known for his role as Noah Puckerman in the hit show “Glee,” has died.
On Jan. 30, the Salling parents found out that their son, Mark, had hung himself and died of an apparent suicide.
In 2015, Salling was arrested for having more than 25,000 pictures and videos of child pornogaphy on his laptop and flash drive, according to People Magazine. After months of trials, Salling’s wrists had visible slits on them. What does this exemplify? A mental illness.
No one in their right mind could have that many files of naked children in their possession with a chemically balanced brain. On top of this, people who self-harm are highly likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness. People who have a mental illness are 83 percent more likely to attempt suicide, according to the United States National Library of Health.
Unfortunately, the people on social media did not research Salling’s mental state before writing their horrid tweets. Instead, they are hiding behind their computer screen tweeting that they are more than happy that Salling hung himself. They also do not want Salling to rest in peace.
“Suicide is never the answer, but please remember what Mark Salling was convicted of before you share a ‘rest in peace’ message,” Rachel Leishman (@RachelLeishman) tweeted.
How is tweeting something so inhumane easy when these same outsiders do not know the whole story? How can people allow the family and friends of Salling to read these nasty tweets? If anyone else was to commit suicide, would the monstrous tweets be acceptable?
No, it is never okay to possess child pornography, but it also should never be okay to encourage someone to kill themselves.
Salling’s close friend and Glee co-star, Cory Monteith, died of a mixed drug toxicity including heroin, morphine, codeine and alcohol. When Monteith died, everyone was quick to express their love for him and his family. What does not make sense is how it is okay to mourn the death of one type of addict, but for Salling’s addiction to child pornogrpahy, it wasn’t acceptable.
Both Monteith and Salling needed help for different reasons. Monteith had the chance to get help, but still overdosed. As for Salling, it was too late for him to receive help for his addiction to child pornagraphy. The only people who knew how badly Salling needed help were his close friends and family because they were directly seeing the issues. The haters on Twitter did not know Salling, but they were still quick to judge his actions.
That is why it must be so easy to show hate. It is actually ironic how people that only knew Salling as the jock from Glee can be so spiteful, but the people who worked with him directly are the ones expressing love and gratitude to both Salling and his family.
“Today we lost another #Glee cast member,” producer of Glee Tim Davis tweeted. “Yes, he committed crimes against children. Yes, it’s horrific. But #MarkSalling was a broken man … I loved Mark, and am sad when I consider the devastation of his parents. PLEASE withhold your cruel comments.”
There is no proof that Salling sexually assaulted any of these children. He did have the images and videos, but he never put his hands on anyone.
However, this does not take away from what he did. He was completely wrong for having these images in his possession, but does his family deserve this added pain? No.
His family loved him, just like any family would. We fear losing a loved one no matter the circumstance because family is the most important part of people’s lives.
Also, think about how hard it is to deal with a mental illness. Starting and ending your day with nagging thoughts that consume your life; these are not just insecurities. Instead, they are stuck with wishing these thoughts would disappear, but in Salling’s case, he did.
We live in a world where bullying is worse than ever, and these monsters are only adding to the issue.
Should people depict an individual when they don’t know the whole story? No.
A life is an opportunity, and everyone deserves to live the life that they dream of. As Salling’s co-actor, Darren Criss, said, “People’s lives are much greater than the worst things they’ve ever done.”
Next time anyone wants to write a hateful message, they should think twice before arrogantly tweeting a demeaning message to a family who is going through one of the hardest times of their lives. Remember that these people in the cyber world were not the ones picking up their dead son and brother from a scene; the Salling family was.
In the world we live in now, people need to think before they tweet. These messages will never go away, but Mark Salling is now gone forever.
This is not a time to be vain. This is a time to recognize mental illnesses and come together to stop one of the biggest leading causes of death.
If anyone sees signs of depression or suicide, please do not hesitate to call the suicide hotline at 1-800-273-8255. No one deserves to take their own life.
