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What To Take Away From ’13 Reasons Why’

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UIC chapter.

When the show starts, you’ll be wondering why Clay doesn’t hurry up and listen to the tapes. You’ll also be coming up with crazy conspiracy theories to find out who did something evil to push her over the edge. Hopefully, you’re able to calm yourself down because you find out what happened to Hannah as you go along. And once you get to the end – be prepared to cry.

One of the show’s main messages is noticeable from the start but will be more obvious when you make it to the end. What’s this message? Treat people kindly because you never know what they’re going through. In Hannah’s 13 tapes some people did really big things to hurt her, others small. Some people didn’t try to hurt her but still didn’t reach out once they realized. When confronted with how they hurt her, most people say there was no way they could have known Hannah was hurting so bad. Which is (mostly) true. It’s also the reason you should be considerate of others – you do not know what they’re going through.

Walking away from the show’s first season, everyone should be more conscious of how they interact with those around them. Although it’s not always detectable, try to be in touch with how others are feeling. Maybe you said something that you thought was a joke but really hurt them. Or maybe they aren’t even hurting because of you – do you offer kind words anyway? If you don’t, you should.

UIC Contributor.