This article was originally published prior to June 2, 2013. Due to a change in the content management systems, the initial publication date in not available. 

It was not a speech about drinking and driving or doing drugs.

This was a speech about rape.

It was a speech that went farther than the enclosed walls of Rice Auditorium Sunday.

As I was sitting in Rice Auditorium Sunday, not knowing much about the speaker or what the speech would do for me, I realized this story about Kristin Cooper was real and that she actually took her own life. That was stunning to me, to the audience and to her mother.

As Kristin’s mother, Andrea Cooper, spoke in a light tone, she explained the story without missing a detail and told the audience the truth, the blunt truth, about Kristin’s story. The happiness she once had, the tough time she went through and finally, the taking of her own life.

I was speechless.

Listening to Andrea was a tear-jerking moment. It started out light, just a story, and as she went on, she got deeper and deeper, to the point that I couldn’t help but feel hopeless, sad or feeling as if the reality of this story was more than I could handle.

I have never personally gone through a rape, or anything along those lines, but hearing the story made me think, “This could happen to anyone.”

It was a reality check.

That something we all know and have heard about for years, could happen with a snap of a finger, that my life could be flipped upside down in a matter of moments, or even with an innocent friendship.

Andrea told the reality of a hard situation and it was more than just a story to me. It is hard to even explain my feelings after the story. It scared me, it made me sad, it upset me and it affected every ounce of me.

I have never been depressed or to the point I didn’t think I could live the rest of my life, but I have felt torn down and been upset.

Every student has felt this way. It could have been from stress, a break-up, or simply having just one of those days. Whatever the matter might be, it is scary to know that those feelings of depression could lead to death.

I know life gets hard. I am a college student, involved in everything, and have been through break-ups, fights with friends and stressful times. I always talk. I always find someone to talk to, and they pick up the pieces when I am not at my best.

My advice is talk, let out how you feel, rely on someone or multiple people and fight for the life you have because it could be taken away just like that.