Behind the curtain or under the proverbial rug, lies the residue that forms statistics, but due to the sensitivity, the names are silent. How well I know.
More than eight years ago I sat for days in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Edwards Hospital in Ft. Smith, Ark., watching my daughter sleep between a fragile life and a likely death. By the grace of God and quality medical response, she made it up and out to a gradual journey of re-entry.
So, the concerned friends would ask, “What happened to your daughter?” And my “Well, uh, er…” responses finally became honest.
“She tried to take her own life, near suicide due to life’s pressure and pain.” There, I said it! Always my friends were speechless and then burst forth with the huge “Why?”
You may as well ask how many potholes are on the moon’s surface because nobody can truly answer that question, including the subjects themselves. So back behind the curtain are statistics that alarm and frighten us, but we ignore them because of embarrassment and ignorance. Every 16 minutes someone in America, our affluent nation, takes their own life. That is more than 90 per day, 33,000 per year, with well over 2,300 attempts daily. Sobering are the facts that suicide is the third-leading cause of death in young people in America. Depression, drugs, alcohol, broken relationships, social dysfunction and scores of other factors contribute to these deaths and attempts. These deaths lead to complicated grief experiences for family.
The trends of appreciation of life have shifted in our society to devalue human life. Unfortunately, many religious groups offer little help in such areas for the families. Guilt, fault and blame are common words that follow an attempt or completion of suicide. We must remember, our God is bigger than life or death and His love knows no limits. His chosen vessel to use to comfort is the available family member or friend.
On Sept. 15, at 9 a.m. on the campus of Gordon Cooper Technology Center, we will have a conference on awareness and prevention of suicide. It is sponsored by Unity Health Center and hosted by Gordon Cooper Technology Center. All ministers, youth workers, counselors and anyone who works with youth or adults in conflict should attend. Chief Russell Frantz of the Shawnee Police Department, Robert Knight of REACT, Lynn Dinslow of Red Rock, Unity’s Emergency Room Director Dee Abbott and Judy Ragland and Stephanie Lewis of Unity’s Social Services Department will be available to share. Testimonies of attempted suicide will be given and parents who have lost a child to suicide also will share.
For a little while we will look behind the curtain and see if collectively we can prevent, by awareness and preparation, a loss of life with all its potential. In the Psalm of David 31:7, we read: “I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” Come listen, learn, share.
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Behind the curtain or under the proverbial rug, lies the residue that forms statistics, but due to the sensitivity, the names are silent. How well I know.
More than eight years ago I sat for days in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Edwards Hospital in Ft. Smith, Ark., watching my daughter sleep between a fragile life and a likely death. By the grace of God and quality medical response, she made it up and out to a gradual journey of re-entry.
So, the concerned friends would ask, “What happened to your daughter?” And my “Well, uh, er…” responses finally became honest.
“She tried to take her own life, near suicide due to life’s pressure and pain.” There, I said it! Always my friends were speechless and then burst forth with the huge “Why?”
You may as well ask how many potholes are on the moon’s surface because nobody can truly answer that question, including the subjects themselves. So back behind the curtain are statistics that alarm and frighten us, but we ignore them because of embarrassment and ignorance. Every 16 minutes someone in America, our affluent nation, takes their own life. That is more than 90 per day, 33,000 per year, with well over 2,300 attempts daily. Sobering are the facts that suicide is the third-leading cause of death in young people in America. Depression, drugs, alcohol, broken relationships, social dysfunction and scores of other factors contribute to these deaths and attempts. These deaths lead to complicated grief experiences for family.
The trends of appreciation of life have shifted in our society to devalue human life. Unfortunately, many religious groups offer little help in such areas for the families. Guilt, fault and blame are common words that follow an attempt or completion of suicide. We must remember, our God is bigger than life or death and His love knows no limits. His chosen vessel to use to comfort is the available family member or friend.
On Sept. 15, at 9 a.m. on the campus of Gordon Cooper Technology Center, we will have a conference on awareness and prevention of suicide. It is sponsored by Unity Health Center and hosted by Gordon Cooper Technology Center. All ministers, youth workers, counselors and anyone who works with youth or adults in conflict should attend. Chief Russell Frantz of the Shawnee Police Department, Robert Knight of REACT, Lynn Dinslow of Red Rock, Unity’s Emergency Room Director Dee Abbott and Judy Ragland and Stephanie Lewis of Unity’s Social Services Department will be available to share. Testimonies of attempted suicide will be given and parents who have lost a child to suicide also will share.
For a little while we will look behind the curtain and see if collectively we can prevent, by awareness and preparation, a loss of life with all its potential. In the Psalm of David 31:7, we read: “I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.” Come listen, learn, share.
