When I was in sixth grade, I was extremely obsessed with the show “Glee.” Some may have called me a “Gleek.” Due to this, when I found out the news about Mark Salling’s death, I felt extremely weird and indifferent. To those who don’t know, Mark Salling died by suicide before his sentencing for child pornography charges. He was facing up to four to seven years in prison and was going to be sentenced in March. What Salling did was wrong, however, it was even more wrong to see people celebrate Salling’s death.
One month ago, Youtuber Logan Paul striked major controversy when he filmed a man who died by suicide with little to no sympathy. Many people were rightfully disgusted with Paul when he posted the insensitive video. However, when the news came about over Salling’s death, I saw numerous tweets saying that they were happy over his death. I found that extremely inappropriate and hypocritical. Yes, Salling did something horrible. However, he was a person with a family. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning his actions in the slightest. In my opinion, it was extremely hypocritical that people condemned Logan Paul for his insensitive actions but showed no remorse for at least Salling’s family.
I still don’t know exactly what my complete thoughts are over Salling’s death. I definitely don’t think it should be celebrated, but what he did truly did make me feel sick. On the contrary, when his former cast mate, Cory Monteith, passed away in 2013, I was shocked and hurt. “Glee” was such an important part of my life, as corny as it sounds. It’s just so weird for me to know that two major cast members of this show have passed away so young. It really shows you that you can have everything in the world but still have your own issues to deal with. If someone would have told me in 2011 that these two cast members wouldn’t be alive anymore due to such intense circumstances, I wouldn’t have believed you at all.
Again, what Salling did was wrong. It is completely understandable that people stopped supporting him after that news was confirmed. However, Salling was someone’s son, friend and brother. Most people in the world did not know Salling personally, and there are people who did know him that are mourning the loss of him, regardless of what he did. It’s not fair to his family to have to read numerous comments about how awful of a person Salling was. None of us knew him personally, so therefore people need to respect the privacy of Mark’s family.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).