“Tyler Clementi dove into the Hudson river convinced he was entirely alone.”
-Andrea Gibson (The Nutritionist)

     Seven billion people live in this world, and yet we pushed him to feel entirely alone. 
     Now, we’ve all been there, or at least it felt like we were. We have all seen what darkness can do to us in attempt to search for the light. Some were fortunate to get through this though; they found the light within themselves. The pain stopped and we managed to live another day over and over again. But the pain didn’t stop for Tyler and the days only grew shorter for him.
     He lived eighteen years before he committed suicide. Bullied by his college classmates and roommates, he found an escape.
     We are our own version of Tyler Clementi. We’ve all jumped off our own George Washington Bridge; we’ve all dove into our own Hudson River. We have stood where he did, at the bridge just seconds away from a breeze to push us over. For some, that breeze is a voice, a person, or even themselves.
     Just like you and everyone else in this world, Tyler was loved. But with the shame brought upon him, he no longer felt the love many had for him; he felt alone. He felt alone standing on that bridge, he felt his voice didn’t matter. Tyler had a life worth living; he had a voice that wasn’t heard.
     We live not paying attention to what others have to say, because we know if it’s really important, they'll repeat themselves until we listen. But what if they don’t repeat themselves? What if they're like Tyler, and even with repetition we still don’t listen?

     We only hear the voices we called “unworthy” when they have no other words left to offer. We listen when the George Washington Bridge is tainted with Tyler's last unknown words.
     This world and this society has words needing to be spoken and no one should be alone when speaking them. We refuse to see the truth, especially when we’re alone. Tyler had a family full of love and support, but he sank too far deep into his own river before drowning in the Hudson.
     There are countless people like Tyler, people living in shame because of what society has declared as “right.” It took one person to jump off that George Washington Bridge to see all lives are worth living, even if we don’t agree with how they're being lived. Tyler left an impact; he left us with the truth we have all been avoiding.
     It took seven days to find Tyler in the Hudson River, and seven seconds for him to lift his feet off the ground and jump. And here we are almost seven years later listening to “The Nutritionist,” the poem he inspired Andrea Gibson to write. When we hear his name in the poem, our bodies tremble and our minds shake with the famous saying, “That could have been me.”
     We’re right. It could have been and could still be us. We could stand on that bridge aching for someone to call out her last line of the poem, “Live. Live. Live.” He needed to hear those three words but we as a society refused to say them. Instead, we say it now. We say those three words, but are cursing at the ones who aren't.
     We have the power to save the ones who are drowning in their own river before they jump into the Hudson. We have what it takes to create a new life and a new society; we have a chance to make this society worth living in. Screaming her last line of the poem on top of the bridge is what we’re destined to do. Reading her poem, putting life into those words, so that we can give life to those who are in need. It is our calling as a society.
     It's what Tyler needed, a life to last more than eighteen years. And us, we needed Tyler. The truth he held is what this society has forgotten until he jumped. We forgot who we were in the midst of the false truth; we forgot to accept those before they start denying themselves.
     There will never be clarity on why we as a society have made it okay to force others into darkness. It will never be fair why the main source of Tyler's jumping isn't being punished more. The main source still has the chance to find love, accept themselves and so much more, while Tyler ended his suffering because there is only so much a soul can take.
     The Tyler Clementi case remains without justice, and will never be clear to those who don’t understand abandonment. But one thing will always be clear, knowing a life should never be pushed to the George Washington Bridge.