Twenty one years of age. A college quarterback. A kid who turned in a signature come-from-behind win with one of the many relief appearances he made for a pass happy school in the PAC12. According to every overdone movie about college sports, that's not the type of person you expect to find laying lifeless on the floor of his apartment after deciding that a life that had hardly started yet wasn't worth living. But I guess that's the takeaway here. There is no stereotypical suicide victim. Depression doesn't have a particular lifestyle, bear a certain facial expression, or portray a singular demeanor. If it did, then the person who was in the midst of the All-American dream with a smile consistently draped across his face wouldn't be the one that fell victim to a nightmarish mental state. It would be doing a complete disservice to his memory, so I'll stop short of wondering aloud what specific type of torment could infect the mind of a young kid to the extent that ending it all seems like the only solution, but I'll be damned if hearing such sad and unexpected news doesn't beg the question. If nothing else, let Tyler Hilinski serve as a cautionary tale. Even those in the most envious of situations can suffer from their own personal demons. It doesn't mean every person that seems a little out-of-character is suicidal, but it does mean that it's a lot less distressing to genuinely ask someone how they are doing than it is to get over a death that you potentially could have aided in preventing. It's doubtful that they could have, but Tyler Hilinski's family and friends are currently thinking about ways in which they could have seen this tragedy coming, so - whether you're depressed or around someone who might be - don't let his shocking death be in vain.
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