Hooman's Story

When I read in Saturday’s New York Post, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It reported that a 19 year old student committed suicide in front of a live internet audience while dozens of cybersickos watched his slow death. These wackos cracked jokes, instead of calling for help. 

Abraham Biggs, of Pembroke Pines, Florida told members of the bodybuilding.com message board that he wanted to die and he posted a link to a live streaming video of a webcam pointed at his bed so they all could watch him take his own life. Over the next twelve hours, his bodybuilding message board buddies encouraged him by telling him to “do it.” Some called him a “failure” while others just made fun of him as they chatted away while the deadly cocktail of drugs was killing him slowly. As hours passed and Biggs body laid still, bodybuilding.com message board moderators were able to track down his location and they called the police. This heartless audience watching on the live video feed continued to laugh and post LOL comments as the police kicked down his door to find a dead Biggs. His heartbroken sister couldn’t believe that no one did a thing while he laid there, slowly expiring. Even though Biggs was being treated for biopolar disorder, his family said his suicide came as a shock to them. His father, Abraham Biggs Sr. was shocked that Justin.tv allowed his son’s death to be broadcast live while people didn’t do anything.

Biggs posted a suicide note on the bodybuilding.com message board saying that his life felt meaningless. He said, “I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her. I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I keep failing.” He said his biggest fear was not his pain, but how his death would affect his family. “I don’t want my mother or father to think that it was anything they did that lead me to kill myself. My father had such high expectations for me and tried to give me every opportunity to improve upon myself. I let him down.”

I don’t know how many people were watching Biggs die, but from the messages that the members of bodybuilding.com were posting, it seemed like they all knew Biggs well. At first message board members used this as an opportunity to tease him  because they didn’t believe him. Biggs had been known to tell tall tales in the past. One member said, “He’s faked this before, ignore the retard.” Eight hours passed since Biggs first message before someone finally recommended to call the cops, but it was too late. By the time the cops got there, Abraham Biggs died.

Can you believe that. I didn’t want to write about it earlier because it is one of the most horrific stories I had ever read. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me because I knew that I had been in his shoes before. In fact, many people have been in his shoes before. Nearly everyone at some time in his or her life thinks about suicide, but most people choose to live to because they realize they can overcome there temporary situations. Others don’t handle problems and situations as well as some, so they believe that there is no hope. They believe that they can’t stop their pain and that there is no way out for them. There were dark times in my life where I thought about suicide for a second but I could never do that to the people who I loved. Suicide is the worst thing you could ever do because not only do you hurt yourself, but you hurt all the loved ones around you for a really long time. Suffering family members not only suffer the loss of a loved one, but they themselves become a higher risk for suicide and emotional problems. 

Suicide is a major problem, in 2005 it was the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States, claiming 32,637 lives. It is the eight leading cause of death for males. Four times more men complete suicide compared to women, however three times more women attempt suicide compared to men. On average, there is one suicide every 17 minutes. Suicide occurs across all ethnic, economic, social, and age boundaries. Every year in America, we have over 700,000 people attempting suicide. We have to improve this nightmare scenario.  

I am asking all of you to pay extra close attention to the people in your life because there seems to be a rise in suicide rates due to the bad economy. There are warning signs to suicide, so if we can catch them, we can help save someone’s precious life. It is up to us to rise up as a nation and act with passion so we can save someone’s life, whenever we can. These people who watched this without doing something need some desperate help. They need to realize how precious life is. They need to realize that whenever you are presented with an opportunity to help save someone’s life, you do it.

Hooman Hamzehloui 2008

www.HOOMANCAN.com