My girlfriend recently got me hooked on a new Netflix show called "13 Reasons Why". The show is based on a girl named Hannah Baker. Hannah, unfortunately kills herself at the ripe old age of 17. Instead of leaving a suicide note, Hannah decided to leave an anthology of 13 cassette tapes that outlined why she decided to end her life. Each tape had a different person as the subject and each person had a hand in the reason why she killed herself.
The show is really weird in the way that it shows past events and future events almost simultaneously. For anyone who has seen the movie Memento, it is incredibly similar. So the first episode takes place after her death and a boy named Clay Jensen gets the tapes. He is instructed to listen to all of them, and pass them along when he is done. This is what Hannah wanted. If Clay refused to listen to the tapes, she entrusted a second set to a friend and that friend would make sure that Clay listened to them.
As the show goes on you hear Hannah’s voice through Clay’s Beats headphones. Each episode you meet another character and each character had a hand in the death of a young girl. Some had more than others. It was heart wrenching to hear her story, because it makes you realize that it can happen to anyone. These are typical high school kids that have typical high school issues, and again this could happen to anyone.
It's scary as they watch and hear the tapes on go, how the ripple effect is actually a thing. Each of the tapes are connected in some way. Each person’s actions had a chain reaction on Hannah and we really don’t think in those terms. We as people think of our actions as singular events and there are no repercussions that happen from them. That is the furthest thing from the truth. Everything we do has a reaction of what happens next. Did these thirteen people know that they were all connected because of what they did? Absolutely not, but they were.
It also really makes you think that as you interact with dozens of people every day and everything you do has a profound impact on them. This is why I honestly try to smile at everyone and make stupid conversation because I have no idea what they’re going through, nor should I. I just want to make it better, make a better experience for that person. That is why I am so cheery around people because honestly, I just want to help and I hope that in some small way that I am. If I can make a difference in just one life, I have done my job.
