Seconds pile into minutes; minutes into hours, and hours? They form days; days full of carelessly avoiding everything that screams for attention, the issues that need to be spoken of, before it’s too late. Cells construct tissues; each tissue part of an organ. Eventually you have an organ system, circulating blood, taking in air; all of these make a human, a human who causes my heart to beat quicker, more vigorously and tears to pour down my face in five words. Some things don’t add up. The sentence had the words, each word with a meaning, and it formed a complete sentence, subject and predicate; so why didn’t those words make sense in my mind as they entered my expectant ear? “He tried to hang himself.”

In life, there are so many opportunities, so many chances to help other people. So why exactly do we, as fellow human beings, overlook obvious signs of depression, writing them off as a ‘phase’? Suicides are 100% preventable, if only we went beyond ourselves for once and reached out.

Why does it have to get to the point where everything is so hopeless that someone feels it would be better to just die? There are so many things in this world that have a solution, maybe not a black and white answer; or even one that we fully understand, but nothing lasts forever. Chances are, you won’t have the same problems you have now when you are 60 years old; so why do we continue to let our peers kill themselves in vain? If only we could provide them with the support and let them know it is okay and there is help for them, maybe there wouldn’t have 32,637 deaths due to suicide in 2005.

“Please keep it a secret,” he had whispered in my ear a week prior, just as she whispered five words different words in my ear right now.
Why? Why would you keep it a secret? If you ever find yourself in a situation in which someone reveals to you they are thinking of suicide, don’t keep it a secret. It’s hard, so hard, to tell someone. ‘Maybe they won’t do it’ you think. But there is a 50% chance they will, they think about it, examining the idea in their mind, turning it over and over again; so why play a game of chance with their life? Suicide is not a game. It will never be funny and it will never come without regrets. So, if you have the chance, muster the courage to speak up to a trusted adult. The consequences will not be as negative as they could be.

I love you. Honestly, I love every single person who ever contemplated, or committed suicide, if only because they felt like no one loved them. Depression is like being a dark hole in the ground, hardly any happiness graces the little hole, and no one can see every part of the little hole because it is so dark. Someone who is suicidal feels like nothing good happens to them and even if maybe their life catches a glimpse of light, it’s outweighed by the darkness; they feel as though they are misunderstood, like no one understands what they are going through, like no one cares what they are going through; like they are trapped in a horrible situation. But, there are 32,636 other people who feel the same way. If you are suicidal, you are not alone, there is help, and people do care!

A suicide can shatter a community and can bring tears to everyone’s eyes, whether they knew the person or not. But, more importantly is what a suicide always does. No matter what the situation, no matter who the person, no matter what the reason; a suicide does destroy every potential for a good future. Once you are gone, there is no turning back, there is no eraser, white out, or way to turn back time. Once you have pulled the trigger, taken the pills, cut the skin, or jumped with the noose; you’ve left behind nothing but tears, regrets, and people who have loved you all along, full of heartache and more likely to come across the very same fate.