One of my best friends texted me early one morning saying, “A student from our high school committed suicide over the weekend.”

The news was shocking, upsetting and unheard of for my average Catholic high school of about 1,500 students. Everyone knew each other and I found out the student also went to my old elementary school.

My four years in high school were socially unvaried. For the most part, people had the same classmates since Kindergarten. This resulted in keeping to the same group of friends until graduation. However, when pictures surfaced on Facebook that week, it was enlightening to see how social barriers had been broken to celebrate the life of a special friend, classmate and student of the community.

The pictures of students sitting in a circle, holding hands and praying in the school foyer showed more love and support than I had ever seen during my time in high school. On Twitter, close friends of the student created a hash tag — which went viral — to commemorate their friend, while also raising mental health awareness. Even my old classmates and older graduates became very supportive over social media.

While the support from the students and the school community is wonderful, I still wondered, “Where was this compassion when the student was alive?”

My high school, and society in general today, is becoming more introverted. We now live in a world where we are told to never trust strangers and where the mentality is that everyone keeps to himself or herself. The statement, “it’s none of your business,” is something we have all heard too many times.

However, growing up as a Catholic, we are taught to love our neighbours and live by Jesus’ example. He accepted and loved everyone around Him, despite the many social taboos of His day. He was never afraid to show His compassion and support towards other people even though it changed the way some viewed Him.

These obvious acts of love are what society needs more of every day. The students at my old high school displayed exactly what Jesus has shown us through His life. They became the light amidst a dark time by breaking down social walls and banding together as a school to show love and support for a family in need of hope, faith and prayers.

(Jereza is a second-year journalism student at Ryerson University in Toronto.)