National Suicide Prevention Month
This is a very touchy subject with a lot of people. It is difficult to understand why anyone would want to take his or her own life. Some people feel it’s wrong, but until you have walked in someone else’s shoes and feel the pain, suffering and sometimes loneliness, you need to be more caring and compassionate. We are not here to judge one another, but to help lift each other up. Just because we don’t understand what a person is going through doesn’t mean we can’t try to help a person who is thinking about suicide or provide support to a family member of someone who has attempted suicide.
Hopefully, most of us will never know the feelings of gloom and doom, but a person who has these feelings only lets you see what they want you to see. You may never know how they really feel about themselves, because some, if not all of these wonderful people will not let you in or tell you what their problems are. It could be drugs, alcohol, depression or a personal issue that they are going through like being bullied. (More suicides happen over bullying than you will ever know.) They may seem ok on the outside, but inside they are crying all the time and they know how to put on a good act to cover up their sadness. Some people don’t know who they can trust or who they can turn to in their darkest hour.
The sad part is that there are signs that we may not recognize. A strange e-mail, phone call or a text. You may have talked to them a few minutes before they are planning to end it all, and just talking to you may have saved their life or it may have pointed them in the right direction on where they need to go to get help with these feelings they are having. Some of our young people feel if they let their family and friends down, they are worthless and people are better off without them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We all have demons that we fight, but just remember if you are feeling blue or feel like hurting yourself, please call someone. A suicide prevention hot line is available 24-hours a day to help you. You are not crazy and you are not alone. The phone number and web address of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the United States are as follows:
1 (800) 273-8255
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
Please know people care about you and love you for who you are, not for what you have done, and almost everything someone has done or said can be fixed in one way or another. Life is a wonderful gift and our lives wouldn’t be the same without the special people in it.
As someone once told me, if it wasn’t for that one person saying hi or smiling at them that day they would have gone home and ended it all. So smile, speak or wave at people… you may be the one who saves a life.
Tomorrow isn’t just another day. It’s a gift from God and he wants you to have many tomorrows.
I understand. I’ve seen firsthand how suicide can change a family.
Rock on, people. Rock on.
