“Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.” ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Again. Again we read our social media, see the news, or hear/take part in conversation about the horror of school shooting and a public figure taking their own life. Again; the ugliness of our society is front and center for the world to see.
It gets worse. Those whose job it is to stop the violence as it happens stood still outside letting it continue. Those whose job it is to look into warning signs and tip line calls ignored those very signals.
I was reminded of an old adage that has seen its worthiness pass; "we don't talk about those things." There has been a groundswell of what used to be kept behind the scenes and in the dark being brought into the open and visible in the light.
Women who are assaulted, accosted, dehumanized and then victimized over again to prevent the telling of the dirty deeds now have a microphone, a stage, and hopefully a willing audience to listen to the consequences of when you cut the value of a person down and try to eliminate them from the human equation.
People are speaking up and we as humanity are hopefully listening.
It has long since passed that the need for mental health awareness to become as much a crusade as combating cancer or other disease that strikes at the humanity in anyone stricken with it. To suffer mentally is such a silent disease because it is not visible; you don't see the pained walking, shaved head, or other evident signs that someone is SUFFERING. More often than not, you see them mask their pain behind a smile.
We don't talk about mental health and suicide because many of us can not fathom wanting to take another life; let alone your own. Suicide is not simply wanting to die; it is wanting to end the pain and strife one feels they can no longer endure for even a split second. The notion that one has such suffering they need to see it in other's eyes as they end that person's life is surely not comfortable to try to understand; let alone talk about.
But we need to. Our future depends on it and we are losing it with every casket we needlessly place into the ground.
I understand darkness. I have tried to end my time here. More than once. That cold and calm despair sometimes is easily inviting enough that you either come close to dancing with it or spend too much time enveloped in it.
I did not speak. I had friends and loved ones who would listen, but I did not speak. I truly do not know the greater tragedy; not reaching out for a helping hand or the turning away of a hand that is reaching out for help. That turning away also is something I have had to endure. I don't wish the feeling of being hurt and in crisis, hand outstretched, and slapped away, upon anyone.
We need to listen. We need to open our ears to the signs of calls saying something does not seem right about this person. And we need to speak up when things do not seem right to hopefully find the help and assistance those in crisis need.
This world has become difficult enough. It is ironic that with every means of information provision and gathering; we all join in a shouted chorus with no one quieting enough to hear the other speak. It's the right to free speech on a case of red bull chased with the strongest mochafrappacino with ten turbo shots. We can tweet, we can post, we can take silly pictures and put a sentence on it to share with the world wide wherever. But do we stop to process the consequence of that action? Do we stop to hear when someone is saying
I NEED HELP.
Or are we too busy creating the next post?
