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    benjaminalloverBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:37am

    Sounds like a sweet, funny kid. Very sad. Fuck depression.

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      Kenhe Loginbenjaminallover
      2/21/15 11:53am

      Seriously, because depression fucks you. +1

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      TouchdownSyndromebenjaminallover
      2/21/15 11:54am

      Fuck depression indeed. Being a teen fucking sucks.

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    The Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabyStepsBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:41am

    I wonder what was going on in his life that brought him to this decision.

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      saucissonThe Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabySteps
      2/21/15 11:46am

      Synaptic misfires. It happens to people with otherwise very happy and successful lives.

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      The Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabyStepssaucisson
      2/21/15 11:50am

      That sounds awfully similar to simply having the equivalent of a "brain fart." If so then that sounds very scary.

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    DW's Side EyeBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 12:03pm

    This is horrible. My 14 year old cat enthusiast son loved the guy.

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      Professor MoriartyDW's Side Eye
      2/21/15 12:39pm

      Adorable. Thank you for posting this. Now go hug your son, for all of us and for Draven.

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      ohbutyesssssssDW's Side Eye
      2/21/15 12:43pm

      This picture is AWESOME. Your son looks like a great kid :)

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    divingmissmBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:38am

    How said. I bet his kitty will miss him.

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      chattygaldivingmissm
      2/21/15 11:44am

      Glad someone else had that thought :(

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      ForTheLoveofGlobdivingmissm
      2/21/15 11:55am

      Seriously. In my darker moments I always think, "who would take care of my cats?"

      :(

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    kiracBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:48am

    What?! I'm unreasonably unsettled by this news. I mean the internet community embraced him. He should have felt loved by outside sources, but sadly must have been locked into his own dire mental scape. S

    uicide is just such a terrible situation, especially for someone so young that I don't what to say. Maybe its because I place higher emphasis on suicide stories since my uncle killed himself a couple years ago but jeez it seems like nothing could prevent this. How can we prevent this if an off center loner was embraced so fully for his cat picks and still chose to end it all?

    I guess I will just get high and try to forget it all.

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      Tracekirac
      2/21/15 12:02pm

      The whole 'he was loved by lots of people' seems to be a common theme with suicidal people (look at Robin Williams) that it should be clear by now that while it's helpful to have people who support you (certainly it is so much WORSE when you don't - see that poor transgender girl and her lack of support), depression itself can blacken basically everything good in your life until everything is shit and it feels like nothing will ever get better and you, as a person, aren't worth it.

      As a personal example: I have a loving family and a few good, close friends and at my blackest time, I often thought killing myself would be doing THEM a favor so they don't have to feel obligated to care about me anymore. Nevermind the fact they never acted like helping me was a problem, I was just clearly a giant burden and everyone would be better off without me and they just weren't SAYING it. It's ridiculous in hindsight, after years of treatment, getting on the right meds, etc., but at the time it was as 'obvious' to me as anything else that what my fucked up head was cooking up was correct.

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      moreliberaltearsplzkirac
      2/21/15 12:12pm

      I think the cat pics should have been a warning that something wasn't right with the kid.

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    TedsallisBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:36am

    That's a damn shame. 17 is a bitch of an age and I'm sad he didn't make it through. 20-30 can be so fucking awesome and he would have had a great time once he made it through the gauntlet of high school.

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      saucissonTedsallis
      2/21/15 11:40am

      He seemed reasonably popular, I'm not sure you can blame "high school" for that. If you're looking for causality I'd look for a full medical/psych workup.

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      Emily_8361Tedsallis
      2/21/15 11:42am

      Yup, I know it's become a cliche at this point but it really does get better.

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    TraceBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:51am

    Just goes the show the extent people can hide their issues from the greater world around them, often because open about mental illness often brings its' own set of problems (admittedly taking this death notice a bit hard because I tended to hide my depression a lot with humor in high school, too. :/). Sad all around, my sympathies to his family and friends and it's sad someone who clearly had a lot to give to the world was downed by this shitty illness.

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      ARP2Trace
      2/21/15 12:04pm

      I find that some people that are funny all the time, that are always "on," do it because if they stop, they can hear the screams of the "void."

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      TraceARP2
      2/21/15 12:05pm

      Yep. Robin Williams continues to be an extremely good example of this, I think.

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    PelllBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:33am

    Fuck upstate NY.

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      MyHonestOpinionPelll
      2/21/15 11:38am

      Hold on... I'm here in Rochester, true Upstate, and... this is so sad. What a shame.

      ...and my daughter's yearbook photo has her holding our puppy.

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      EWAbbottMyHonestOpinion
      2/21/15 11:56am

      You are in Western NY...Upstate is Yonkers to Lake George and west to Amsterdam.

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    HarvestMoonBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:42am

    This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

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      Patricia RayeHarvestMoon
      2/21/15 12:45pm

      I was 11 in 1972. This song and Janis Ian's "17" were my theme songs through my teen years. Therefore, in my darkest hours I felt I wasn't completely alone. Hang on to some thread of hope. If you think you don't know anyone else in a deep depression, you do.

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      HarvestMoonPatricia Raye
      2/21/15 1:05pm

      It's funny how sad songs can actually make you feel stronger. For those who don't know 17...

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    starnautBrendan O'Connor
    2/21/15 11:58am

    from his tumblr

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      LorinDeestarnaut
      2/21/15 12:16pm

      This is in bad taste, leave the poor kid alone.

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      KatscanLorinDee
      2/21/15 12:30pm

      I didn't read this as a dig at the kid, it seems to me that it's just a glimpse into a part of his mind that most of us were unaware of. Maybe he was good at hiding his depression or struggles - or maybe people just missed the times that he shared it on hopes of help. We'll never know the whole story, I suppose. But I didn't think this was in poor taste. I think it serves as a reminder to us all to look out for each other & pay attention to signs that someone may be in pain.

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