Dressed in black, sitting alone and consumed in darkness, teenagers turn away from the haunting scars, yet they crave the only thing they can control: blood and pain. Despite the lies everyone believes about depression, such as depression for the sake of attention, 70 percent of teens suffer from a mental or emotional disorder, and they often have a history of abuse. Probably one of the most sickening facts about depression appears in the statistics that show 34,000 teens commit suicide per year. What does this have to do with self-injury? Out of the 34,000, over 17,000 struggled with self-injury.

By damaging the body, a teenager hopes to find either relief or life. Sadly, self-injury has many sides such as starving, burning, and cutting oneself, hair pulling, and the intentional intake of toxic substances. However, I would like to narrow it down to self-mutilation. Self-mutilation consists of biting, cutting and burning or disfigurement, or limb amputation. Many falsely believe males have the biggest problem with self-mutilation because of their tendencies towards enjoying violence. Females struggle with self-mutilation four times more than males. This happens because of the pressure on females such as looks or popularity. Often times, those who have self-destructive habits struggle with mental disorders like borderline personality disorder or posttraumatic-stress disorder, along with a possible history of emotional or physical abuse. Due to the life-threatening damage done, self-mutilation must end.

Every day we pass people who hide fresh cuts and scars, but we all have ignored the signs for so long that we do not even realize their struggles and eventually label them as freaks. They can keep their friends until word gets out that they struggle with self-mutilation. Once this happens, nicknames such as “sick minded” or “emo freak” taunt the teen for the rest of his or her life and friends become hard to find. This can cause the teen to withdraw from the world increases the severity of self-mutilation. Adults often get confused as to why so many depressed teenagers wear sweat shirts or bracelets. To answer this, one simply has to pull back his or her sleeves or take off his or her bracelets. Fresh cuts and scars cover their arms and tell of anger, pain and abuse. When people see the scars and cuts, they assume the teenager could cause danger to those around him or her which leads to the loss of friends. After living under the term “freak” for so long, he or she no longer find life worth living.

If a teenager could find hope, would he or she choose to continue life? In 2006, a group of friends decided to make hope the only reason a 19-year-old girl had to live. This group of friends founded the organization To Write Love On Her Arms. Jamie Tworkowski, the main founder said, “To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.” When a 19-year-old, drug addicted, self-harmer came to the point where she thought life no longer had a purpose for her and no rehabilitation center would bother with her, a group of friends took her in. Now, just four years later, they have reached millions of teenagers around the world and have saved countless number of lives. Through presenting hope, they share love that changes not only a teenager’s life, but also the world. By stopping the bleeding of so many teenagers, they increase the hope Christ offered us through His blood.

Self-mutilation seems like a teenager’s best option because of the pain he or she lived with. Sometimes he or she feels dead and seeing the blood makes them alive, or he or she cut for the sake of relieving the emotions inside. With one cut, he or she sells their life away to one of the largest addictions in the world. I also have seen many parents yell and scream at their child because of their self-destructive habits, but they fail to see this only increases the scars. Too many people take their life due to rejection and hatred caused by their scars. This needs to stop, and it needs to stop soon. Hope exists, and we need to share it with those who need it the most: the rejects. We must learn to love them like Christ. They might seem dangerous, but only because they have learned to survive through pain. Whatever stories of pain lie behind long sleeves, the screams for rescue should not remain unheard. Love can change the world one life at a time.