A demonstration of the lifelong effects of childhood abuse

A 27-year-old graduate student in computer science at Princeton University committed suicide this week, leaving this moving 4,000-word note. In it, he explains how being raped repeatedly as a child affected, in essence destroyed, the rest of his life.

It’s a moving, and a tragic letter, one that reminds us how lasting and traumatic early experiences can be. The statement I once heard, “Don’t compare your insides with someone else’s outsides,” resonates with me. This letter reminds me once again that we can never fully know what is going on with someone else’s insides. It’s a reminder to be compassionate and nonjudgmental.