Words are not always powerful.
Nothing makes words feel more weak than a reminder of what they can't describe. I think many people felt that way after hearing about Tian Bu's death this week. We try to find words that communicate how sorry we are, whether or not we knew her, but all of them are inadequate.
The outpouring of sadness for Tian's death mingled with another issue we struggle to talk about: mental health on campus. Many people who responded shared their own struggles with depression or unhappiness, and their surprise that other people felt the same way. A similar trend happened in the comment section of this post last year. The comments are anonymous, but they prove beyond doubt that anyone who deals with these problems is by no means alone.
