Suicide has touched my life personally so I take suicide prevention serious! My book My Journey to Hell, A Story of Love, Loss and Hope (found on Amazon) is the story of my own son’s suicide attempt. Since then it has been my mission to help others avoid our family tragedy or at least helps others (the suicidal and their families) through this amazingly painful time.
You might think, well, suicide has not touched my life. Maybe, or maybe you will never know. What I mean by that is a suicidal person may not tell you they are depressed and at the point of ending their life. They may wear a “mask” and show the world what the world wants to see, a happy person. Let’s face it, we don’t want to be around someone who is sad and depressed. So instead they smile and hide their pain behind a mask of socially acceptable appearance.
I saw a Facebook post about the recent celebrity suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain and the person said a solution to suicide was to be kind to people. I think he was on the right path. Sometimes the person who is struggling may just need someone to listen to them or give them a smile, or validate them. Or maybe you can ask them if you see they are “off.”
Most people who are suicidal try to reach out in some way. They don’t necessarily want to die, but they want to escape the insurmountable pain they are experiencing. They have lost hope that there is any solution other than to end their life.
You, me and all of us need to reach out and ask the question. “Are you in pain?” “Are you thinking of hurting yourself?” “Are you suicidal?” You can save a life!
As we go along our path in life, we need to look out and support each other!