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Morse code or megaphone - listen

Catherine Johnston

Social media can be fun: finding long-lost loves, keeping close with far-away friends and family and even getting a glimpse into the details of co-workers’ lives. But at some point, we have to listen, really listen to the tweets and posts and texts.

No one listened to Texas high school senior Ashley Billasano . And so, she took her life.

No one listened to her reports of abuse; abuse she claimed went on for four years. No one called, asked, informed a teacher or trusted adult about one of her haunting final tweets that read: “I’d love to hear what you have to say but I won’t be around.”

Our children communicate however they can; sometimes they are loud and in our faces, but other times they whisper, in barely audible tones, their desperation. Sometimes their cries are as quiet as a tweet.

Adults, friends, teachers…anyone who hears those cries has the moral obligation to act.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "EndNotes." Read all stories from this blog