Brendan Clarke – Age 14
Brendan James Clarke was 14-years-old when he took his life on November 11, 2010. Brendan lived in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and was a freshman at Stroudsburg Jr. High School. Speaking in January 2011, Brendan’s mother Anne Marie Butler-Clarke said that her son never showed any obvious symptoms; though he had stopped playing his video games, she attributed that to being more involved at school. When she realized something might be wrong, she attempted to make an appointment with a psychiatrist, but all local doctors were booked. She noted, she didn’t know that a general practitioner could address depression.
While information is thin on the bullying endured by Brendan, this tribute put together by his friends references such.
Stroudsburg Students Against Bullying Facebook
RIP Brendan Clarke a memorial:
I have seen all of those kids who have killed themselves. It’s so sad that this world has came to this! I wanna thank you for putting this on the internet because it’s helping me to do my English work about bullying! 🙂
May God bless you and may HIM help all of those who lost someone and those who have been bullied to go thru it all! <3
Brendan was such a great kid, their was no reason for him/ anyone else to bullied, so spread the word about bullying and stop it! i love you brendan clarke! you were the best friend i ever had!
Brendan didnt have to do this. He was bullied for years. I have knewn him since 3 gread and he was being bullied when i fast meet him and now that i think bout it everyone that was bulling him should feel sorry and very very bad bout it cuz he didnt have to take his own life cuz people didnt know how to leave him alone.
WE LUV YUH BRENDAN!!!!!!!!!!
I was bullied brutally for the last eight and a half years of public school. Coming home badly beaten and spiritually broken to face punishment at home almost daily for “fighting” and poor grades. I failed every year past the 6th grade and graduated high school in ’77 promising myself to leave and never return. I never did return. Never had children because I feel so uncomfortable around them. My wife was abused too. (Imagine that). I have no children, can’t maintain relationships, don’t have any friends, am a stranger in the family and have no respect for authority.
When I look at Brendan I can see right into his mind. He’s got the same supressed expression on his face that I always did. Almost a smile. I was deeply ashamed of my situation and believed it was my fault for attracting the abuse. The shame and guilt of being abused by peers is a crushing burden to a teenager. I hid the pain from my family thinking they were ashamed of my shame. (My feelings). For some reason I knew it was my responsibility to carry the burden silently. Honestly, I probably hid it well- just like I assumed my family expected me to. My parents had two younger kids to raise, It seemed my duty to step off to one side with the “problem” on my shoulders to let the family grow.
I’m so sorry Brendan is gone, teens aren’t capable of understanding the devastation and permanent effects of suicide. Using poor judgement is a part of being a teen. My own in-laws had to struggle through a suicide in the family. As a policeman I had to respond to several teen suicides. Each time it hurt me as deep as it hurt those families.
Anyway, what happened is Brendan’s fault, not Brendan’s parents. Just like me, he chose to keep the pain to himself. When I consider suicide and think of the pain, the anguish and grief my relatives could go through, it just doesn’t make sense. It seems like nothing but a really angry way to punish someone else so I could watch them struggle with anguish for awhile. I don’t want to hurt any one that deeply. Luckily, years ago I forgave everyone that abused me, everyone that looked the other way, everyone that should have known but didn’t do anything. And I forgave myself for punishing me for the punishment and shame I assumed I deserved.
At the end of our lives if we still have questions and want them answered personally, God hopefully won’t mind if we sit down face to face with our loved ones and talk it out.
God gave us all life. He also gave us complete freedom to make our own mistakes. Unconditional forgiveness makes the whole mess mean something.