The reasons behind cutting are many and often difficult to understand. Cutting is a way that some people, often teenagers, use to cope with the pain of intense emotions of abuse, rejection, desperation, grief, bullying, and sexual molestation. Their coping skills may be overpowered by emotions that are so strong, the only way they know to ease the pain is through self-inflicted wounds.

Perhaps the larger issue is the virtual world of the Internet and how many individuals are becoming more socially isolated. There are numerous social media sites and millions of blogs. As with much of technology, that brings about both good and bad.

We must somehow look at these acts as indictments of society’s lack of caring outside the field of self. Unless we as a society begin to care about such heinous acts, we are as guilty as the perpetrators and those who pass by with little more than a glance.