He appeared to have been Jewish (speculation on my part from his MySpace, plus the name Abraham is a big clue). Black and Jewish is not one of the most common things to be...he had a very strong cultural, ethnic and religious identity and one to be proud of. I guess knowing where you come from is no clear guide to knowing where you're headed. Poor Abraham obviously had no idea how to handle what he faced and only saw himself lost, confused and hopeless.
Such a shame. Such a waste.

I knew it would only be a matter of time... wow. I knew that one day, I'd read a report like this, somewhere, and watch as another wall fall. People keep forgetting, some walls, some limits --put on by previous generations through a variety of clever and creative means, because they learned it so we wouldn't have to-- exist to protect us from ourselves.

But no... we want to re-invent the worst we can imagine, and shove it in front of everyone, in order to... do what?

So now, the internet demands real blood... and we deliver.

I am truly saddened by this event and sickened by those posting on bodybuilding.com - It was indeed a crime to watch and while I concur that there is an unlikelihood that anyone will be arrested, karma has a funny way of getting to those who truly deserve it.

This is just so sad. While threatening suicide is usually a cry for help, couldn't ONE person have decided that the cry was enough to TRY and help? We live in a very sad world.

Oh my.

I don't want to be a hard ass here, but, why isn't anybody angry at CandyJunkie?

Take a look again at his Myspace profile. He said that he was a nice guy, that anybody could call, even if it were 3-4 in the morning. He said that he was goal oriented and not a carpet...

He set this up and he made the choice to kill himself. I find that very selfish, in light of his profile.

NOTE FROM STEVE: I'm not going to get into a big discussion about it -- just don't have the time -- but I think you make a good point, Darby. One at least worth talking about.

Totally on target Darby, he's the only one to blame. And frankly, jeers are what was deserved, whether people regret them or not after the fact. Not only did he decide to destroy everyone's life he claimed to love, but he did it publicly, and made a record of it.

As for forum members, people just need to be realistic. Those people are not part of a suicide hotline. They are chatting and having a good time about subjects totally unrelated to this guy's idiocy, and have had one hoax after another pass through their consciousness, and suddenly they're supposed to snap into action over a scene anyone could fake?

The whole thing's too bad, like any suicide. Too bad for his family and friends, and too bad he decided not to call any of them instead of putting on a show.

he was my friend i cant believe this i just saw him last week i love you biggs and i miss you

As someone who has a close loved one dealing with mental illness and suicide attempts, I understand that HE had an illness. An illness that doesn't lend itself to "normal" thinking. If he had diabetes, would you all be blaming him as well, for his death? I think it's sad that his illness went untreated, and yes, I also think it's "sad" that people jeered him, and ignored him, through his cries for help. What illness can explain the lack of compassion from those that interacted with him, and did nothing?

Soobs, I don't disagree with you in that CandyJunkie had an illness...but again, he had a profile that indicated otherwise.

I see where you are coming from with the diabetes...but I have this to say. If I had diabetes, and had an onset due to obesity or not taking my health seriously, then I would blame myself. I know for a fact that diabetes, in my mother's case, was tied to her being over weight. Her doctor told her that it was, and she herself admitted that it was. Once she lost the weight, healthily, and began taking medication, it was controlled and she has had no problems since. Now, if she continued to eat unhealthily and didn't take her medication, and it went downhill...I feel that she would be to blame, so to speak.

But I do see your point.

In Candyjunkie's cae, he was an adult and while we all need to take care of one another on this earth, the basic responsibility lies within us, individually.

Candyjunkie wanted to die. He indicated that he wanted to die by committing suicide. He wanted, for whatever reason, to air it on-line.

Are people who watched it kindof creepy? Maybe. But Candyjunkie put it out there for people to see...not to stop him, or to seek help for him, but to see it. The choice to do all of this was his.

I give my condolences to the family. In a time of grief, better to give your respects, saving one's opinion on the matter for a later time.

I'm very sorry this happened the way it did. Of course, he was sick with depression and people in that situation aren't going to post accurate profiles, or even find themselves writing delusional things. My thoughts are with his family and friends. As for a 'crime' - as someone else posted, we see so many hoaxes online that I was one of many who couldn't believe the WTC bombing was real. One young guy in his boxers, face away from the camera, lying like he was just asleep...well, again I'm sorry, but I can see myself not doing anything out of disbelief, but most likely not even watching it, let alone taunting him.

Soobs, mate, it's his fault. He took the pills. He killed himself. The forum members are not to blame at all under any circumstances.

Ok, he had an illness, but if he had diabetes, internet people would not be expected to save his life...anymore than when someone kills themselves online due to mental illness.

Oh and the police turn up with guns? Are they fucking stupid?

"Hi, this guy has killed himself and set up a live webcam of it, you need to get there right away with a medic team"

"Ok guys, you heard the called, suit up, boot up and lets go ready to kick some arse *cocks weapon8"

Fucking insane.

Lythia: I seriously doubt the late Mr. Biggs was Jewish. And Abraham isn't a name limited to those of Jewish descent. It's more likely he was named after Abraham Lincoln. Who also wasn't Jewish. And it's a shame that he did what he did, but like others have commented--bodybuilders.com wasn't a suicide hotline. I find it more interesting that someone as thin/rangy as he was was that focused on a bodybuilding website. Although that might explain the "not a carpet" statement.

this is extrememly sick and twisted. I am sorry to say but what possessed to young man to record his death? It seems very selfish of him as he knew the type of press his actions would bring. Was he that attention starved? and it seems absolutely ridiculous to blame posters for something out of there control. This is like the boy who cried wolf. He has done it times in the past, people just didn't care anymore. Although sad he took his own life, I am not convinced that I should feel sorry for him. Why should internet people take the blame? where was his parents, friends, etc to help him deal with his situations? And now these ppl on the forum will be blaming themselves, even though this is not their fault. This was Abraham's doing. He decided it was time to end his life..PUBLICLY...he comes across as being nothing short of an attention seeker

I don't recall ever saying that whomever watched on the internet was guilty of a crime. I said I found them SAD. And pathetic.

To those who are more focused on who to blame, and they all point to the young man, folks, you sound a bit callous. Suicide is not black and white, not cut and dry. Many factors go into someone deciding to end their own life. If any of you have ever tried to actually commit suicide, actually get all the way to downing the pills or putting the barrel against your temple, then you know what it feels like when your entire body screams at you to stop. It is very, very difficult to ignore. We are supposed to fight to survive. So when someone does succeed in killing themselves, it is no small feat.

The comparison that if someone were a diabetic we wouldn't be angry with them or jeering and shaming them, is quite apt. The counter that we would also not be expected to cure the diabetic is not equivalent. They are both life-threatening afflictions, but the cure approach will not be the same for both. The urge to save them, however, should be as strong for one as the other.

I continue to marvel at those who are actually angry at Abraham. Angry. With a self-killed young man. I would understand that more if they had actively made every effort to save his life, but since most are probably complete strangers to him, I am baffled and further disgusted with the range of reactions some humans can resort to.

I used to parrot the cliche that "children are very cruel and have to be trained to be kind." For years now, I say it this way: "Humans, young and old, are too often very cruel. They were not trained to be kind, or they forgot how."

Soobs and Uch, I also mourn for him in the same spirit.

Got this from another forum. It's the account of someone from the bb forum.

- CandyJunkie creates thread telling Misc. he'll overdose himself again on drugs live on Justin.tv
- CandyJunkie posts the amount of drugs he's going to take
- Mods don't take it seriously because of his past trolling
- People egg him on
- CandyJunkie posts a copied suicide note
- People keep egging him on
- He pops the pills and goes to sleep
- He breathes for a few hours, people think he's going to be alright and keep joking and trash talking on his JTV log.
- Some time later many people realize he was not moving.
- I find his personal details through E-detectivery, I figure out his name and number and location.
- Personal details posted on Misc. I request people to call the cops because I live in India and had no way to make International calls all by myself.
- People tell me he's a troll and nobody calls. Staberella especially is quite a huge cynic and says that he wasn't going to die on that kind of drugs, she insists nothing is going to happen and that people should just gtfo of the thread.
- I send an email to Miami Police on their official email on their website, Email not functioning!
- I call Miami Police from my dad's phone and speak to at least three cops and one person from the 911 line (whatever it is) for over 8 minutes about the situation, the people there do not take the case seriously and tell me to call the sheriff of his county, and give me the sheriff's number even after I told them I was speaking from a different country and that this was an emergency.
- I post the sheriff's number on the Misc. thread
- People tell me to quit worrying and that they're 100% sure its a loop and he's just fraudin'
-jjlee138 (Rep this dude) calls the Broward County Sheriff's office and speaks to them about the situation along with a couple of other people. By the time I called, it turns out 3 people had already called them about it.
- People wait for the cops to bust in on the JTV cam.
- Some people start thinking nobody called the cops, at least 5 more people call the cops, they were told the cops were on it
- 25 minutes after the first call to the cops, the cops bust in. They cover the webcam
- People speculating whether he's dead or not
- At this point of time a lot of people start deleting/editing their posts everywhere. PM me for the original thread content.
- Friends post messages on his myspace worried about him, no response from him.
- His best friend posts a thread on the Misc. and informs the people that he's dead.
- Some people still think its a bluff

The police have to approach suicides with extreme caution, because until they are sure no one is about to shoot at them (because many suicides, especially male suicides, are committed using a gun), they have to be prepared to defend themselves successfully. They do what they do because they've learned from previous experiences. Police are no worse than you or me; most reflect the general population.

Well, while I do feel sad for the pain that Candyjunkie was in during the time that he planned and then carried out his suicide, I feel that our comments are perfectly in line with the context of Steve Huff's article...he wondered aloud of those who goaded and watched had committed a crime...and I say that they hadn't.

If there were somebody directly in front of me that was threatening suicide, you bet I'd try to help them. If I saw that same person in front of me threatening suicide five times later, I'd be more apt to throw my hands up. It's not uncaring, but rather placing the responsibility where it belongs...with the person threatening suicide.

Not placing blame per se', but placing the responsiblity where it belongs...with Abraham. And god bless both him and his friends and family at this time. They will have to deal with this aftermath, not Abraham.

All points taken...and they all make sense.

But, I'd just like to point to point out that one can have a very positive profile and still struggle against depression and other down moments...and the goodness they have may not be enough to stop them from getting suicidal. It is unfortunate that Biggs joined the wrong community...the people he interacted with where in no place to be able to understand him and see his action as something that would warrant a need for help! Though I'd love to think there are really people who cares...yet, not everyone can take stuff like this seriously...just sad.

My prayer goes to his family...

Wow. This story raises so many issues and conflicting emotions that it's hard to know where to begin. Suicide is a desperate, despairing and lonely act, and depression is an illness. But so is narcissism, and there is something narcissistic about planning and carrying out your suicide in such a way that you in fact ask others to bear witness. And yet, not in a straightforward way. You give your witnesses the wiggle room to think you might be faking it in this dramatic bid for attention. Ultimately, by following through, you manage to make seem derelict in their duty to come to the aid of a suffering stranger. So there is some passive aggression in this act.

But maybe that's what every suicide is, with or without the webcam.

I would just hate to be one of those moderators.

And the board format, chatting with people when you don't have to look them in the eye. It can encourage a callous disregard for what others are feeling.

All in all, a sad and morally jarring act that says as much about its author as it does about the world we live in.

well... it's a sad story. However, I can understand the forum members not believing. Telling him to do it is absolutely wrong, but doubting his story is only normal behavior on the Internet.

More criminal for me would be the "suicide" groups where really, they tell you how to do it, that it's a good solution, etc. I remember seeing a documentary about them. (see: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/08/MN114902.DTL )

Suicide is a desperate act of a person who is at the very bottom of the pit and sees no way out, you are self loathing and feel the world would be a better place without you. This young man made very public his hurt and desperation. It was a cry for help. He posted what he was going to do, what he was going to take; do you not think this was so someone would know how to treat him if found? If only one person cared enough to call he would be alive now. Most people who attempt suicide in a very public arena are desperate for help. Sadly no one cared enough to help and he died. This is a tragedy that should not have happened. Isn't it a shame that it was someone from half way around the world who called the police?

It is sad situation when not one person cared enough to help him. To the people who watched and did nothing I just hope one day you don't need help and no one comes. Karma is a bitch!

He was just another drug-addicted loser who wasted his life, then ended it the same way he'd lived it. It's not exactly tragic - it's somewhat amusing, in a dark way.

This article fails to note that the suicide note in question is not original, but rather copy-pasted. There was good reason for anyone to think it was a troll. Still, they should have called the police...

i fail to see how this is amusing to anyone. have we as a society become so jaded, insensitive, and out of touch with what it means to be human? i can perhaps understand how people, thinking the suicide was a hoax while it was happening, might laugh. but to laugh after the fact or say that this guy was 'a loser' is pathetic and terrifying. this generation (myself included sometimes) is SO very out of touch with themselves and others. our generation distracts itself from its reality through its addiction to headphones, cell phones, and monitors. this type of abuse exacerbates the kind of distancing from other human beings that leads to derogatory comments like these about Biggs. Biggs needed help. He didn't need your complete lack of sensitivity.

what alexa kim says above (11/21/2008 at 02:57 AM) is right on the money... reinventing the worst we can imagine, to display it to the world, and for what reason?!? THIS is the question the world needs to ask itself. this goes beyond calling for attention or help.

So he's an idiot for being depressed to the point of suicide and obvious lack of self-esteem issues?
So, because it says on his myspace profile that he's a nice guy with a big heart, that means there's no way that he could be depressed under all that? You know some of the things depressed people do is pretend to be happy, or to create a persona of perfection. Suicide was the wrong way to go. I see nothing narcissistic about what he did, I see a big cry for mental help that went ignored.

The real narcissism in this instance is that of the people who assumed it was a joke and jeered him on. It's a really sad world that we live in where people don't have the decency to call the cops when they see someone on a webcam taking what looks like drugs. Had I seen this, I would've called the cops regardless of my arrogant assumption that it was a joke, and let the cops decide whether or not it was a hoax. Had someone done the right thing and reported this to the authorities this kid could have probably been saved, and even that in itself is something they will all have to wonder for as long as their conscience allows. People use the "it's the internet" as an excuse all too often. Hopefully as more incidents like this (God forbid) come to light people will realise that they are talking to real humans beyond their monitors and sometimes the human you're interacting with isn't as secure in his/her skin as you are so you ought to pick your words wisely.

Sorry, I was so preoccupied with being shocked by this poor young man's plight, that I totally overlooked Steve's proposition: Is failing to give aid sooner to Abraham a crime? ... After all, this is the Internet -- is anything real, anymore?

Earlier, I said that I knew "one day, I'd ... watch as another wall fall[s]." There are some walls that protect us, if we let them. There are others that act as a dangerous blind. The restrictions society erected were usually meant to protect those who cannot yet understand a given harsh reality, or to shield the innocent. Sometimes, such barriers end up hiding, unintentionally, those with misdeeds to be discovered. Humans are nothing if not resourceful.

Too often, later generations, seeing huge misdeeds once small, will tear down a long-serving wall. They throw out all the good work the wall was performing in order to send the cockroaches running. Maddeningly, those chiefly responsible for tearing down society's prohibitions are rarely correctly identified, and then if so, they rarely see it that way.

The internet is a kaleidoscope wrench train.

To my mind, the people watching Abraham, who wondered if he was serious, were closer to being good actors. The people watching him who felt the twinge in their chest that urgently asked "What if this is real?" and tried to call help to him, were closer still to being good actors. The people who watched, and watched, and jeered, doubted, denied and never let the possibility of believing him enter their minds, were closer to being bad actors.

Perhaps a better question might be: As a bad actor you did not commit a crime but acted immorally, do you feel shame? If the extent of your suffering for your actions, or inaction, is merely to feel ashamed but face no criminal charges, does that absolve you enough so you may carry an untroubled mind? Is that a satisfactory standard? If you were to become the Chorus, and another were to stand in, would the exact same actions and omissions be held to the satisfactory standard or the higher standard you demand of everyone else?

Dare to take this very personally: put yourself in Abraham's place, in the hours and minutes up until the moment of no return. How real would be your hope that someone out there will reach through the web to catch your hand? Will their stubborn spectatorship stab you through and through with bitter clarity? Or oddly signal the comfort of death?

Abraham was entitled to get everyone's best effort to talk him out of it, not hurry him along. Abraham was entitled to the love of his fellow kind, lavished on him as guard rails before the cliff, not like a gum wrapper tossed at his back.

Paradoxically, the very people who Abraham probably secretly hoped would rejoice at his turning away from the ultimate solution instead categorize him as selfish or passive aggressive. I doubt they would not be among the first to resent a little bit his living had he failed.

Facing our role in Abraham's death will be utterly impossible for some of us. Some will be very jaded and cynical, well beyond reason. How can we expect cynicism and apathy to save lives when they can't even warm a heart?

So, as of now, no, on a technicality, it is not a crime to fail to aid a suffering someone. It shouldn't have to be, but it should be.

jk and Amir, Very well said.

Cached copy of his original post on bodybuilding.com. Some of the posters are horrendous!

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:iCJ0Fwq-DVwJ:forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D112065561+ask+a+guy+od+anything+page+1&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

Its very sad. Really sad indeed

It's a tragedy indeed. However, threatening to commit suicide on a bodybuilding forum full of machosistic or steriod-ridden angry people you would expect an outcome like this.

One point that nobody hasn't mentioned is that he had depression and was known to be suicidal. So why did he still have access to deadly dose of prescription medication? According to the news, it was prescription medicine that killed him, not illegal drugs he obtained from the street. Aren't his parents partly responsible for this as well?

After all, this is exactly what he wanted. That's all there is to it. Rather than doing quietly in his room, he wanted to go out with a bang and have people watch him which is just sick in my opinion. People who were watching him die didn't realize that it was real and actually if I were them, I would be outraged to be invited by Mr. Biggs himself to watch him die on a live broadcast. That would scar me for life.

A true tragedy.

To be angry with him is ridiculous; he was in a mental state of mind when he killed himself. He was not selfish, as some of you have said. You cannot truly understand what position he was in unless you or a loved one has suffered from depression or bipolar disorder.

It's a shame no arrests will be taken place but I truly hope those who tormented Abraham have this hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives.

Rest in peace, Abraham.
My condolences go out to the Biggs family.

This is the problem with society. It's never someone's fault when their life goes downhill - it's mental issues. It was mental issues that caused him to start to take drugs. It was mental issues that caused his life to spiral out of control, and he failed to help himself. It was mental issues that caused him to kill himself, on webcam.

No. No it isn't. It's the result of a society that blames everything on mental issues, so that people stop thinking for themselves and start to think that their life is a television show. That's when this happens; people take their own lives for entertainment, because they think they have to.

The real tragedy here isn't his death. There are over 150 thousand deaths per day. The real tragedy here is that society is too stubborn and, dare I say, idiotic to fix itself.

Here's what many of you fail to realize:
1. Anthony Biggs, regardless of what the forum said, of his own volition and before telling the community at large, consumed a lethal dose of prescription drugs.
2. He had also done the same thing, sans the drugs, several times before in the same manner (without dying).
3. Without any personal information, there was no way (outside of excessive snooping, which was apparently done) to know which police department to call, and beyond that where to send them.

In hindsight, of course, any of us would have done our best to stop this, but given the circumstances, and the general nature of the internet as a whole, none of us can really say that we would have even given a damn about this. Honestly, to try to analyze this, without knowing anything about the man or why he did it, is an obvious display of a "holier than thou" attitude. What a person is saying, when they do try to analyze a situation like this, is that he or she knows better than anyone else why this happened, and would have, before anyone else, done something about it. That's just plain arrogant. If you want to help, go out there and make sure this never happens again. Don't point the finger at those who are blameless.

It is a tragedy, for sure, but the decision to commit suicide and then follow through with it was made alone by Anthony, and it was only AFTER he took the pills that he announced it to the internet. Don't turn this into an opportunity to display how valiant you would have been in the situation. Chances are, you couldn't have saved him, or wouldn't even have tried to or known how. I probably wouldn't have believed him either.

Don't try to understand his reasons without knowing him. Don't try to blame the internet for no good reason. Most of all, don't assume you're better than anyone else because you "would have" helped out in the situation. If they had known it was real, every single person in that forum would have taken it seriously.

I just read an updated news report about Abraham and it confirmed another suspicion I had, that he was suffering some emotional and/or mental distress. Sadly, if you leave someone entirely responsible for their own medication, sometimes, they become resourceful. Humans, sometimes especially troubled humans, are very, very smart. We are complicated.

If Abraham was under duress, with his autonomy protected under the law to a large and byzantine extent, is it satisfactory for us to dust our hands off by saying he alone made the decision, he alone is responsible?

Banma prompts even more questions. Do posts for help at a body building forum invite ignorance, intolerance and poor reactions because of its community? Are body builders inhuman? Abraham was a forum member there, was he no longer an empathetic being? The suggestion that he should have expected such a reaction from that forum seems to be that Abraham and he alone bears a now compounded responsibility.

Abraham's parents are differently responsible and they will be dealing with that for all time to come. However, they were not on the webcam watching their son kill himself, which is the offensive aspect of this sad event.

Abraham's ability to have healthy wants and make wise choices was impaired, so that is not all there is to it.

The people watching webcams should always do what they demand of authorities: something, now. Granted, we often excoriate and denounce them when they do act quickly, because they didn't do it the way we fantasize they should. (Consider the early comment above criticizing the police seen on Abraham's webcam.)

The cult of fiction as fact when received from the tv, or movie, or now, the internet. Critical thinking is in dangerously low supply out in the www.

If after you rush to stop a suicide, you end up feeling scammed by the desperate incompetent who couldn't go through it, or who turns out to be a deeply cruel faker (which fraud hurts those who really are suicidal), you will get over it. If you ignore a suicide in the making, because you don't want to feel tricked, the wounded soul on the way to the final relief cannot get over it.

How many times have I heard people scream afterwards toward the authorities "why didn't you act sooner?!"

That standard applies to each and everyone of us.

2 years ago, after closely examining the bodybuilding.com forums, we forbid our son (a minor), an aspiring body builder, from EVER visiting or participating in that site AGAIN. It is vile, full of derogatory, dangerous people and messages. We checked our son's mailbox (part of the membership), and it was FULL of pornographic solicitations, offers of "easy access/purchase" of illegal steroids & other meds, and we know our son was sent solicitations from pedophiles. He did not access his mailbox - so all the mail was unopened and had not been responded to, deleted, etc... THANK GOD. I wrote to bodybuilding.com and demanded they delete my son's account, and monitor the trash that is happening on their forums. My advice? The police should monitor the forums themselves, as they would probably find the distributors of MANY illegal substances, materials, and pedophiles all in one spot. It does NOT surprise me that this young man was heckled and spurred on to his death, as that's the quality of members and staff that exist at that website.

Goodness gracious.

I just read an article where Abraham's father said that he was appalled that people watched and did "nothing."

I might say the same for Abraham's father...and again, I do not mean to be a hardass here, but, why on earth would he point the finger at society and not wonder why he himself couldn't have checked in on his son to see if he might be thinking of killing himself that night?

We have all these excuses for Abraham and why he might not have been able to help himself, and I am sure that we will see the same excuses for Abraham's family and friends...but it is not the fault of a bunch of jerks on a ridiculous body building site that Abraham killed himself.

He had already taken the appropriate amount of medication, which means that he had already chosen to die before he even turned the camera on.

We expect anonymous posters at some body building site to call the authorities on a poster that had threatened suicide several times before...and then have to listen to those on their soapboxes say that it was "their" fault for not "saving" Abraham?

I guess my thoughts are that had he been "saved", he would most likely have been angry by that and attempted suicide again, perhaps the next time being something "bigger and better" that may have taken innocent people with him.

I do feel bad. I feel very bad for his state of mind and for his friends and family. My only comfort in this anonymous situation is that Abraham is where he chose to be, and again, god bless him and his friends and family.

A lot of you are taking a point, and going off on tangents.

He had prescription medication for his mental illness (and yes, mental illness, bipolar disorder are REAL. If you think they aren't, you've never seen it up close and personal, and therefore, you know NOT of what you speak.) One can die from an overdose of asprin.

Those who want to "blame" his parents....well, they weren't WATCHING it happen like those on a forum were. Those who were EGGING him on, I might add. That isn't normal, or compassionate behavior, regardless of what someone may think. To say that *I* wouldn't have tried to call the cops, just shows you don't know ME. It has nothing to do with a "holier than thou" attitude, it has to do with my OWN moral compass. You don't know what I have done in the past, what I will do, nor what I am willing to do, to help anyone. Save the "you wouldn't have called the cops either" bullshit for someone like yourself, who lacks empathy for others.

Criminal "blame" may not lay with those on that site, but certain moral blame does. Unless you'd like to take the stand that people on the internet aren't REAL people - it which case you may be too far gone to help.

The "real tragedy" is that too many people lack basic human emotions. Period.

An earlier comment points out that whenever we, us, you, them, has a problem, it is always someone else's fault, not ours, yours, theirs. Denial is a complicated survival tool. Those of us on the outside will expect that those hurting the most now do the very painful job of examining their roles.

Most humans are not able to do that, not right away, not all at once. For some in our larger society, the persons who cannot do this should be dismissed. That is not helping.

Abraham's parents are torturing themselves. They will wonder where they went wrong many, many times from now on. If not, then they have bigger problems than we first thought.

It is human nature for us to lash out and place the blame on anyone but ourselves when we are in extreme pain. Parents often say hurtful, untrue and even astounding things after a child dies.

I tend to think that those who insist that Abraham alone is responsible for his death, are ducking and dodging. No one likes to feel inconsequential. If I were in Abraham's place, would it help me for the rest of my world to treat me like no big loss?

Dare to reach out anyway. If you think someone is about to go there, just call the 800-784-2433 (800-Suicide) suicide hotline and ask for advice.

Even when the parents should be there for their hurting child, but they aren't, and you are, then help. Instead of watching the trail of dominoes topple to the end, just stick your hand out. You can intercede.

Even though the desperately sad and hopeless human, young or not, possibly should be old enough to handle all their woes by themselves, and should be self-knowing enough to know what to do to fix themselves, when you see that they aren't doing any of that, offer them your hand. You call in others who take it from there.

Even if you are on a web cam, and someone says, again, that they are going to kill themselves, and you really don't think they mean it, act as if they do. Don't announce it, just act. Trigger a different set of dominoes. Call the hotline.

Once you learn the person has taken pills, call 911. You never know! If the person is unconscious, or is aiming a gun at themselves, call 911!

If the person is still talking, I strongly urge you first call the 800-784-2433 (800-Suicide) suicide hotline. (Once you call the police, all kinds of hammers fall, with all kinds of long-term consequences, some good, some not.)

Once it is over, one way or another, don't forget yourself. Call the hotline again for more advice.

Be creative. Be stubborn. It is never wrong to help.

"Even when the parents should be there for their hurting child, but they aren't, and you are, then help. Instead of watching the trail of dominoes topple to the end, just stick your hand out. You can intercede. "

Alexa Kim, all of your posts have been very well written, but I especially agree with the quote above. Thank you.

Very eloquently spoken, Alexa Kim.

I am not sure which line of work you are in, but, I am sure that you have helped many along the way, whether you know it or not.

I was all set to counter with a cynical "but, but, but" and I instead am all set to counter with a "right on." To offer your hand is something that we could all take to heart, in many situations that we deal with daily.

Are you aware that there people in this world that have a severe medical condition which causes them to be that way? My mother for instance is one of those people. She is a truck driver that has bad knees and a bad back from driving the truck but you probably do not care about that case either. Oh well I am not one of those people I am 6'4? 245lbs and I exercise every day. I would love to see you say something like to my mother in front of me. Probably never happen though you are probably just an internet tough guy. I doubt very seriously you would say that to someones face. Just my thought.What do you think. Oh I am sorry you probably do not have a brain. I on the other hand will be happy to buy you a plane ticket to come here and see if you have the nerve to say that to someone I know.

"Anyways, BB.com has become like a family to me (I know its kinda sad) but I find myself posting my life troubles and doubts on here, because I really don't want to talk to most ppl about stuff going on with me. " - CandyJunkie

I was just wondering if you are aware that there people in this world that have a severe medical condition which causes them to be that way? My mother for instance is one of those people. She is a truck driver that has bad knees and a bad back from driving the truck but you probably do not care about that case either. Oh well I am not one of those people I am 6'4? 245lbs and I exercise every day. I would love to see you say something like to my mother in front of me. Probably never happen though you are probably just an internet tough guy. I doubt very seriously you would say that to someones face. Just my thought.What do you think. Oh I am sorry you probably do not have a brain. I on the other hand will be happy to buy you a plane ticket to come here and see if you have the nerve to say that to someone I know.

A postscript that should have been true for Abraham at least is true for another, thanks to Jesse M. Coltrane. He held his hand out to a despondent young man in California, someone who befriended him by way of My Space.

Go here to read the news item (spaces added to URL to prevent linking, so delete them after you copy/paste to your browser's address bar):

h t t p : / / www . foxnews . com /story/0,2933,488204,00.html

It is clear to me, the young man in California was over-watched by the angel Abraham.

Dear God, when Abraham is no longer needed by the young man, please, consider sending him to Mr. Coltrane whenever he may need Your help. Thank you.