006 The 800 pound gorilla in the living room - teen suicides in Barrington - an epidemic

by Mark Ganzer on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:12am

You were the first, oh, Allen Myers,

Barrington's fairest, brightest, kindest,

Most talented, most academically gifted,

Who could walk in the company of any of

The so-called cliques, and be respected,

Loved and admired by all therein.



Oh, Allen Myers, we failed you so.

How could it be that we failed you so?



Class President, Captain of the Golf Team,

National Merit Society President, Valadictorean?

What was it that drove you to such despair,

That in November, 1970, you felt compelled

To return (to the seat of the crime), and blow

Your brains out on the front campus lawn

Of that high school which served as both

Our pentitnurty and our cocoon for those four years?



How could it be that we failed to instill in you

The certitude that, as is promised us all in Genesis, I,

You were born a blessed child of God,

Perfectly formed in His Image?



How could it be that we failed to instill in you

The certitude that, failure too would come, no matter

How many successes? And that it is only from our failures

That we learn, and have the opportunity for growth?



Oh Dear God in Heaven Above,

Please do not let us live with this guilt:

That we did not teach Allen Meyers

That as long as you have done the best you know to do,

You have suceeded, win or lose, regardless the score.



Oh Dear God in Heaven Above,

After Allen Meyers had done his level best

At all he attempted to accomplish

Could it be that the accolades he was awarded

Came to taste like wormwood

And that he destroyed himself trying to determine

Just what it was he could do

To top the best he knew how to do?



That Allen Meyers felt compelled to take his own life

Because, at heart, we forced him to believe he needed

To be the perfectionist? Perfect in each and every way

Which legacy was his from the moment of conception?



Oh, Allen Meyers, forgive us.

Oh, Dear God in Heaven,

Let this be a moment, and a failure, but an opportunity,

For us to grow and say, “NEVER AGAIN, shall one of Barrington's children feel compelled to take his life.”