Suicide

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Song of the day: Jumper by Third Eye Blind Mood: Somber A year ago I Lost a dear friend to Suicide. On Friday my teenager came home from school visibly shaken. She said another student had tried to kill himself in the gym. The students need to gather in the Gym to wait for the bus. She said the boy had been a victim of long time bullying. Just prior to the Suicide attempt he was bullied and had books thrown at him. Her best friends brother was standing near her and he saw the boy (who was very good friends with him) and waved. It was at that moment the boy yelled and threw his stuff down and using his own hands pressed his thumbs into his Adam's apple and choked himself until he turned purple and passed out. My daughters friend rushed over and attempted CPR and a teacher came over and relieved him of the stress of doing that. When they boarded the bus the other student had gained conscious. The kids were told that the boy's parents would be called and he would get help. On Sunday Music Star Mindy Mcready succeeded in killing herself. She had attempted it many times. I have a zero tolerance for Suicide. I've looked down that barrel so many times and at 41 years old I still lack the ability to comprehend it. Which is why I picked "Jumper". The song is about not understanding suicide. It is also about accepting a person's choice to commit the act. I do not accept a person's choice to take their own life. My very first exposure to it was with a friend Laurie Davis. I didn't even know what suicide was. She ended up in the hospital a few times. She said she ran from the shadows. She explained that she hurt so bad that she just wanted to die. I knew she was bullied. Hell we all were to some extent. I told her that. She said she just couldn't take it. How did I deal with it? I said deal with it? I was always the new kids. We always moved around. I was bullied a lot. And I just didn't get a shit. My theory was that if the other kids were picking on me they were leaving someone else alone. I tried to protect some kids too. I'd see them picking on a child and I'd get in the way and tell them that I'd seen better bullies in 5th grade (and that was true... I'd grown up on base and then in a haughty beach area). And I had quite a friend base in middle school. It just rolled off of me. Laurie never got that. I wrote this: Shadow For Laurie Davis 1983 A shadow in the doorway hear foot prints in the hall but the room is dark and your calling me home but I run run from the shadows I run from fear and every day passed long and waiting Hon., I feel you your blessed pain How I wish I could help you But I run run from the shadows the walls are closing in the shadows here to stay and I leave that door wide open pity for tear stained eyes I cant see the day so, I run run from the shadows, I cant feel the fall I tried to put myself in her shoes. I also wrote from her point of view (she'd given me a folder of notes she wrote, suicide notes, and asked my opinion.) I came up with this: Pounding Clown 1986 The pounding clown Do you see the pounding clown crying in anguish trying to rejoice Do you see his tears gliding down his face slipping into yet another line Do you see his bleary eyes hiding pain sheltering misery Do you see his phony smile a little rough around the edges almost believable from all the pretending Do you see the pounding clown the fool with tear stained eyes and fading smiles Do you know the Fool above the pounding clown With tear stained eyes and fading smiles The clown is me In high school there was a boy. He went by Porkchop. I don't know his real name. I think I did at one point. But it has escaped me now. He was a friend of mine. He wanted to be called Porkchop. It was not bullying that gave him that name. He killed himself on my birthday over a girl he had a crush on that told him she didn't even like him as a person. In 1986/87 school year they did not do grief counseling. Besides, school was out for winter break when it happened. Would my opinion be different if they had offered us help? I don't think so. I was very angry that he did it. I thought the excuse was lame. He was a fun person to hang out with in the hall. He always laughed. More importantly he always smiled. Even if he was in a rush, he'd offer you a wave (or return one) and a smile. He loved football. We'd sit at the lunch table and talk who did what on our team and local teams playing. We really were not friends, we knew each other. I stopped taking Lunch because my schedule got moved around. That was in 9th grade. I still enjoyed the smile and wave from a boy that took the time to let me sit at his table (no matter how brief the experience was) when I was a new student at a new school. Fast forward to summer. My friend Ted F that I knew before R-C-S had a best friend named Ted. Ted2's little brother Austin was in my grade. Over summer break their mom died. Before school started Austin committed suicide. I did not have the best relationship with my mom so I really didn't get why he did that. Ted1 told me that Austin and his mom were like pea's in a pod. I still did not get it. My next experience was near the end of high school or after it ended. It was when my friend HFSIV left our friend NYPITA a suicide note. We drove all over looking for him. We went to all his fav spots. He had ended up at his mom's. His attempt was in the back of her car. He meant business even tho he did not succeed. He cut his veins vertically. I was very angry. When I got done being angry I was sad. When I got done being sad I wrote this:  Another Tear- 1988 Another Tear Another tear slides down my face another step into emptiness then I opened my eyes and saw you were gone and another tear slides down my face I had to close my eyes I couldn’t watch as you walked away and another tear slides down my face will you forget will you remember but as for now it’s not to late won’t you hesitate turn back your pace before Another Tear Slides down my face to HFS IV   So, I escaped high school without a suicidal thought to harm myself. Well I did threaten it once to get my own way, but I really was not serious. I just did not want to do what my mom wanted me to do. She had me committed to CDPC for a 72 hour cooling off period. LOL. Bitch. I explained to them what I did and why I did it. I explained over and over that I honestly was not suicidal. I just wanted my way. I got sneaky after that. I never thought of Suicide for myself again. I just waited until she went to bed and snuck out and did what I wanted.   I really did not get exposed to suicide again until I worked at the prison. That was interesting. They did an evaluation of me and put me on the mental health ward. Thanks asshats. I had to deal with convicted felons on a daily basis trying to kill themselves. One man. I of course can't state his name. He was a "cutter". Cutters will slash themselves in front of you and time your response. Most cutters make superficial cuts. Enough to bleed but not enough to actually bleed out. He pulled that crap in front of me. He came to me with two bloody arms. The other convicts waited and watched. I let him stand there and bleed. After maybe two minutes he asked, "Why aren't you calling for backup?" I told him to go run his arms under cold water and apply pressure. If he died it was one less fuckhead my taxes had to support. And once he got the bleeding under control that he needed to clean up the bloody mess on the floor. I never had a problem from the mental health ward after that. Gee, I wonder why. I did document it. I did report it to my commanding officer. Lawrd, LT had a belly laugh over that one. Convicts made a wide berth when they passed me outside. Hell, I was feared.   A few years ago I moved to Tennessee. We were up in Illinois attending a family medical emergency and my oldest daughter got a phone call and went into a panic. It was her only friends mother and she told my kid that her kid had been kidnapped. Her name was also Laurie. This Laurie did end up killing herself. And there was a lot of fallout and I had to talk to my (at the time) tween about suicide and why people did it. And I was mad at a dead person for putting me in that position. Very mad.   On Feb 22 2012 I learned that my friend Gundy had tied a rope around his neck and jumped from the second floor. Gundy was one of the strongest friends I ever had. He hurt me. I'd never felt pain like I did the day I got that call. I never cried like I did that day. For a week it was an effort to lift my head and do the things I had to get done. I was mad. I was sad. I was numb. I never thought that as an adult one of my oldest and strongest adult friends would do this. I still lack the ability to comprehend what he did. A year later I am still mad. A year later I am still sad. A year later I can't put it to bed. He was almost 16 years older. What could be so bad that an adult ends their life? How could I have been a better friend. I do not blame myself for his death. But I wish he'd called. I wish he wrote me a letter. I wish I knew he was in that much pain. Maybe I could accept that. Everyone I have talked to has said the same thing. The last time they saw him, he was happy. They did not know he was depressed. They did not know he was hurting. They did not know. And that just sucks. I also learned some cool things. Things he did the last few years that made me smile. So, he might have had an issue that none of us knew about BUT he was still having fun.   I write this post for a reason. I want people to know that suicide is very real. It is something that changes a survivors life forever. I can remember details back to my first exposure to it in 1983 like it was yesterday. I can feel the fear and confusion rushing against my frontal lobe and threatening to give me a concussion.   I write this post because I feel there are so many ways to get help. I offered the Suicide Prevention number as the very first thing. Get help if you need it. It does not have to be a friend or a family member that you turn to. Sometimes talking to a perfect stranger is what you need. Share this if you like. Share the phone number. Help others get help. It might just be a matter of putting the number on your social network wall that helps a complete stranger. It might be sharing like I am that gets someone some help. You never know.