In an online
video, Amanda Todd gives her personal testimony of abuse. In this video, that
has gone viral, she gives an autobiography of bullying that spans over the
course of a few years. In it she uses cue cards, with her face hidden, to recalls
the various abuses in her life that lead to her ultimate decision. She begins
by recounting the need to seek online chat rooms to “meet and talk to new people”
because of the amount of bullying she was experiencing at school. Online she
met a boy who, through offering her compliments that exalted her physical
beauty, coaxed her to expose her breasts on camera.
A year later, after having to move from experiencing a great deal of bullying at her previous high school, that same young boy who convinced her to expose herself online, revealed he knew her identity along with her school, address, friends and family members. He threatened to make the pictures he possessed public if she didn't “put on a show” for him. She describe that over the Christmas holidays those pictures were exposed, thereby subjecting her to more bullying and torment by her peers. Last week, on October 10th, Amanda Todd took her own life.
In her video, Amanda reveals to world something more personal and intimate than her leaked photos ever could. She exposes the deepest, most sincere yearnings of the human soul, she unveils the abuses perpetrated by lust, the true beauty of the feminine genius, all which articulates, and makes public, the current state of our society.
Regardless if every individual is willing to admit it, humanity at its very core has profound yearnings for absolute truth, beauty, power, salvation, love, etc. A mid-nineteenth century atheist philosopher and anthropologist, Ludwig Feuerbach, realized these deep wants and desires of the human person. In his opinion, the Christian notion of God, a contrived notion he would argue, was influenced by these motivations. Known to some as the father of modern atheism, he hypothesized that If we crave absolute power, we would then invent a deity who would fulfil that craving. Though he is correct in symptoms, he falls short in his diagnosis. The desire for something does not disprove its existence or prove it as fiction. If one is hungry, they will desire a sandwich. Does this prove that sandwiches don’t exist? No. The equally, if not more likely argument, is that the deepest yearnings in Ms.Todds heart are proof that absolute relationship and love does exist.
In his famous Confessions, St. Augustine has a famous line “Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te” which is translated as “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you”. These motivations, though twisted and mislead by her own anguish, I believe were at the centre of Amanda Todd’s life. From my own experience, six years ago I found myself in the psyche ward of a local hospital after trying to end myself. It was the most surreal moment of my life. Some would consider ending up in such a place to be ‘hitting rock bottom’. The beauty of being at your lowest point is that, as long as you don’t kill yourself, you’re improving. A part of the agreement of my release is was that I would begin to seek counselling. After seeing a councillor for a few weeks he made some remarks that perfectly articulated what was taking place in the depth of my heart. He told me that some seek suicide as a means to find God. They are disinterested with the finite world and wish to seek out something everlasting.
Amanda Todd goes on to describe how, in her severe loneliness, she was used by guys, one guy in particular for sex. She simply describes through her cue cards that “he started to say he liked me...led me on.” He invited her over to his house, to which she regretted “huge mistake” and “I thought he liked me..”. Amanda transmits and reverberates the same cry that countless young girls repeat in their minds over and over again “I thought he liked me...”. More often than not, men are praised for their anonymous sexual endeavors. As a man, to be counted amongst your peers as an equal, to be successful with “getting what you want” is a prerequisite.
A CTV online article reporting on her death was entitled “Amanda Todd: anotherchild who just fell through the cracks”. To me, this is an insulting and short sighted interpretation of the events of her life. To think that the answer to Ms. Todd’s pain solely relied on the actions of an institution is entirely missing the mark. With the aforementioned illustration on masculinity, it is clear that Amanda’s suffering came from the hands of the society itself.
If we look at the first decade of the 21st century, we see a ‘revolution’ of sorts in the issue of climate change. Al Gore’s famous documentary entitled “An inconvenient truth” sought to expose the evil of green house gas emissions and how it’s affecting our world. To me, Mr. Gore is witnessing to an issue that covers a wider spectrum than just the environment, the tendency to take the resource or desire and divorce it from the responsibility. We use the world’s resources like we treat the physical beauty of humanity. Take the gratification and reduce the outlet to a disposal object.
I would challenge anyone to find an article that decries her death and issues that WE as a society need to change. Venerable Fulton Sheen writes in his book “Way to happiness” that the greatest revolution is waged in the depths of heart. He writes:
“Our Lord has instituted the revolution of humility in words before; now He put it into practice after the Last Supper, when "He laid his garments aside, took a towel and put it about him; and then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, wiping them with the towel that girded him". Slaves were assigned, in those days, to do such menial tasks as this. It was a topsy-turvy event on a gigantic scale to have the Master of Masters, the King of Kings kneel down at twenty-four calloused, sweaty feet and make them clean- as His absolution still makes clean our calloused hearts and our soiled souls. All human values were forever reversed in the starling revolution Christ declared in these words: "The man who exalts himself will be humbled and the man who humbles himself will be exalted."
At the moments these words were uttered, Caesar lost his throne. The principle of exaltation was undone, and arrogance and pride were shown the door.”
If Amanda encountered men and women of this temperament, I believe the course of her life would be drastically different; I believe she would still be alive. In our society we are to find purpose and value in it according to our own specifications. Ultimately this leaves our own selfish desires pitted up against another’s, leaving one will to subdue the other; this is an animalistic survival of the fittest.
Christ did not solely offer us an example of selflessness so that we would imitate him exclusively as a role model to look up to. He offers us a relationship with that very Love itself. If St. Augustine is right and we were created by Him, for Him, then it would be perfectly sane to conclude that through this relationship, we become more fully what we were made for. St. Catherine of Sienna said “If we are who we are meant to be, we will set the world on fire”.
On a personal note, the news of Amanda Todd’s passing has enraged me. I too was teased in High School a great deal. To those who have never experienced bullying, you’re left with an impressive feeling of loneliness. I call it impressive because sometimes, no matter how many friends you may have to support you, it sometimes only takes the jeers of one bully to put everything you thought you knew about yourself and your world into question. Although I have felt a pain like the aggressive hurt that Ms.Todd had experienced, I cannot claim to be innocent. Those same selfish desires that are ingredients in this cultural soup of narcissism dwell within my own heart. The loss of Amanda’s life should be viewed in its proper context, not as the failure to be helped by social programs, but a victim of our senseless worship of the ego.
A year later, after having to move from experiencing a great deal of bullying at her previous high school, that same young boy who convinced her to expose herself online, revealed he knew her identity along with her school, address, friends and family members. He threatened to make the pictures he possessed public if she didn't “put on a show” for him. She describe that over the Christmas holidays those pictures were exposed, thereby subjecting her to more bullying and torment by her peers. Last week, on October 10th, Amanda Todd took her own life.
In her video, Amanda reveals to world something more personal and intimate than her leaked photos ever could. She exposes the deepest, most sincere yearnings of the human soul, she unveils the abuses perpetrated by lust, the true beauty of the feminine genius, all which articulates, and makes public, the current state of our society.
Regardless if every individual is willing to admit it, humanity at its very core has profound yearnings for absolute truth, beauty, power, salvation, love, etc. A mid-nineteenth century atheist philosopher and anthropologist, Ludwig Feuerbach, realized these deep wants and desires of the human person. In his opinion, the Christian notion of God, a contrived notion he would argue, was influenced by these motivations. Known to some as the father of modern atheism, he hypothesized that If we crave absolute power, we would then invent a deity who would fulfil that craving. Though he is correct in symptoms, he falls short in his diagnosis. The desire for something does not disprove its existence or prove it as fiction. If one is hungry, they will desire a sandwich. Does this prove that sandwiches don’t exist? No. The equally, if not more likely argument, is that the deepest yearnings in Ms.Todds heart are proof that absolute relationship and love does exist.
In his famous Confessions, St. Augustine has a famous line “Fecisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te” which is translated as “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you”. These motivations, though twisted and mislead by her own anguish, I believe were at the centre of Amanda Todd’s life. From my own experience, six years ago I found myself in the psyche ward of a local hospital after trying to end myself. It was the most surreal moment of my life. Some would consider ending up in such a place to be ‘hitting rock bottom’. The beauty of being at your lowest point is that, as long as you don’t kill yourself, you’re improving. A part of the agreement of my release is was that I would begin to seek counselling. After seeing a councillor for a few weeks he made some remarks that perfectly articulated what was taking place in the depth of my heart. He told me that some seek suicide as a means to find God. They are disinterested with the finite world and wish to seek out something everlasting.
Amanda Todd goes on to describe how, in her severe loneliness, she was used by guys, one guy in particular for sex. She simply describes through her cue cards that “he started to say he liked me...led me on.” He invited her over to his house, to which she regretted “huge mistake” and “I thought he liked me..”. Amanda transmits and reverberates the same cry that countless young girls repeat in their minds over and over again “I thought he liked me...”. More often than not, men are praised for their anonymous sexual endeavors. As a man, to be counted amongst your peers as an equal, to be successful with “getting what you want” is a prerequisite.
A CTV online article reporting on her death was entitled “Amanda Todd: anotherchild who just fell through the cracks”. To me, this is an insulting and short sighted interpretation of the events of her life. To think that the answer to Ms. Todd’s pain solely relied on the actions of an institution is entirely missing the mark. With the aforementioned illustration on masculinity, it is clear that Amanda’s suffering came from the hands of the society itself.
If we look at the first decade of the 21st century, we see a ‘revolution’ of sorts in the issue of climate change. Al Gore’s famous documentary entitled “An inconvenient truth” sought to expose the evil of green house gas emissions and how it’s affecting our world. To me, Mr. Gore is witnessing to an issue that covers a wider spectrum than just the environment, the tendency to take the resource or desire and divorce it from the responsibility. We use the world’s resources like we treat the physical beauty of humanity. Take the gratification and reduce the outlet to a disposal object.
I would challenge anyone to find an article that decries her death and issues that WE as a society need to change. Venerable Fulton Sheen writes in his book “Way to happiness” that the greatest revolution is waged in the depths of heart. He writes:
“Our Lord has instituted the revolution of humility in words before; now He put it into practice after the Last Supper, when "He laid his garments aside, took a towel and put it about him; and then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, wiping them with the towel that girded him". Slaves were assigned, in those days, to do such menial tasks as this. It was a topsy-turvy event on a gigantic scale to have the Master of Masters, the King of Kings kneel down at twenty-four calloused, sweaty feet and make them clean- as His absolution still makes clean our calloused hearts and our soiled souls. All human values were forever reversed in the starling revolution Christ declared in these words: "The man who exalts himself will be humbled and the man who humbles himself will be exalted."
At the moments these words were uttered, Caesar lost his throne. The principle of exaltation was undone, and arrogance and pride were shown the door.”
If Amanda encountered men and women of this temperament, I believe the course of her life would be drastically different; I believe she would still be alive. In our society we are to find purpose and value in it according to our own specifications. Ultimately this leaves our own selfish desires pitted up against another’s, leaving one will to subdue the other; this is an animalistic survival of the fittest.
Christ did not solely offer us an example of selflessness so that we would imitate him exclusively as a role model to look up to. He offers us a relationship with that very Love itself. If St. Augustine is right and we were created by Him, for Him, then it would be perfectly sane to conclude that through this relationship, we become more fully what we were made for. St. Catherine of Sienna said “If we are who we are meant to be, we will set the world on fire”.
On a personal note, the news of Amanda Todd’s passing has enraged me. I too was teased in High School a great deal. To those who have never experienced bullying, you’re left with an impressive feeling of loneliness. I call it impressive because sometimes, no matter how many friends you may have to support you, it sometimes only takes the jeers of one bully to put everything you thought you knew about yourself and your world into question. Although I have felt a pain like the aggressive hurt that Ms.Todd had experienced, I cannot claim to be innocent. Those same selfish desires that are ingredients in this cultural soup of narcissism dwell within my own heart. The loss of Amanda’s life should be viewed in its proper context, not as the failure to be helped by social programs, but a victim of our senseless worship of the ego.
1 comments:
I don't have any words after reading this. It is so extremely articulate and I would hope that it reaches many, many people.
May you rest in peace Amanda Todd.
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