Now is it okay to talk about SUICIDE? In April 2013 my coworker lost an uncle to suicide. We didnt know what to say to him. So we gave the typical Sorry for your loss speech and ran off before he could really talk about it. On May 3, 2013 my brother passed away from a self inflicted gunshot wound. When I returned to work after my bereavement leave I pulled my coworker aside and apologized for not talking to him about his uncle. After some time 3 of my coworkers shared with me that they had lost loved ones to suicide. They didnt speak about it until after there were 2 coworkers affected by suicide weeks apart. Why? Why is suicide the silent killer? Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America. For people aged 15-24 years old its the 3rd leading cause of death. Some sources say its the 2nd leading cause of death for that age group. A suicide occurs about once every 13 minutes. There is an average of 1 suicide attempt every 32 seconds. There are thousands more people who die from suicide annually in America than in car crashes. Yet everywhere you look there is some public service announcement about buckling up or texting while driving. Where are the suicide public service announcements? After the news of Robin Williams weve seen people come out with negative comments that only perpetuate the ignorance about suicide. People have called Robin a coward. Theyve said that people who commit suicide are weak. These false beliefs only fuel the stigma that keeps this issue silent. It only feeds a false sense of security. After all, if only cowards do it and you believe that you arent a coward then you allow yourself to believe that nothing will ever happen to you that will take you to such a dark place where suicide feels like the only way to stop the pain. Are you so sure? Are you positive that depression will never affect you? Are you certain that you will never experience chronic physical pain from an illness or accident? Are you sure that your life will always be as good as it is today? Moments ago (while still in the middle of typing this) I made a comment about suicide and a person responded to my comment by saying Its survival of the fittest. This person doesnt know how I lost my brother and the environment wasnt appropriate for me to respond how I would have liked to. These comments pour salt into the wounds of the people who are grieved and traumatized from a suicide. So, back to my question. Is it okay now to talk about this? Can we begin to fight against the ignorance? Can we take the time to learn the warning signs so that we could help save a life? afsp.org Thank you for taking the time to read this. Feel free to share this.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 20:03:06 +0000
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