Attending the event Friday at Morin Park in memory of Albert Lea High School student Pla Mo, we were proud to see such a large crowd come out in support of Mo’s family and friends. In addition to remembering Mo, who took his own life last week, the gathering included discussion about suicide awareness and bullying. This discussion is especially critical in today’s society, and we hope the conversation doesn’t stop there.

Mo’s death has spurred many thoughts for us here at the newspaper, as we hope it has for the leaders of many other organizations in the community. In turn, we hope it has spurred many thoughts for students and parents, too.

Last month, our newspaper came up with an idea to sponsor a contest during the month of October for National Bullying Prevention Month that we hoped would raise awareness of the impact of bullying and start discussion of what we can do in our community to eliminate it from our schools and workplaces. Never did we imagine that in the middle of this contest, we would find out about Mo’s death — it was the very thing we were trying to help prevent.

In the days that have passed since we found out this news, we at the Tribune have racked our brains to think about how we can further encourage discussion on this topic, promote policy changes and advocate for wake-up calls in how we as community members treat each other. This tragic death cannot be forgotten.

We hope individuals, organizations and local government officials, including our school leaders, use this time as an opportunity to bring awareness of these issues to those in their stewardship and to review their own conduct.

Bringing about change must start within ourselves and our families.

Are our children seeing us set good examples of how to treat others with kindness, and do they see us stand up for others when they are being put down?

Or, do they see us encourage or take part in name-calling or stand by when this type of behavior is going on around us?

If we ever want to see any change in others, we must first change ourselves.