I have been struggling with this for four days now. Do I keep silent or speak my mind? Today I give up and have to let this out. While raising awareness on some things is a good idea, it does not mean it is a good idea for everything. The reason why people raise awareness on anything is so that people become aware of something. What is the point of raising awareness people are committing suicide? It was a good idea about ten years ago. The problem is, people started to raise awareness about the “problem” and not considering they were actually letting people become aware of others who gave up, when they had no hope left for themselves.
The other problem is, too many are only talking about veterans committing suicide while ignoring current military suicides have averaged 500 a year since 2012 when reserve components are included. (Reservists and National Guards) It is also a problem when people quote a number without every reading the reports or giving any thought to how many have not been included in the data. They also seem to link all of their suicides to PTSD, without understanding that members of the military are in fact just as human as the rest of us. In other words, they can have mental health issues that are not PTSD related too.
It is an even bigger problem when suicides among people have also increased, but too many do not ever think about them. So what exactly is the point of suicide awareness? It doesn’t work and according to the CDC, suicides have increased, proving this approach is the wrong one.
What does work is restoring hope that the next day can be better than their worst day. I’ve heard experts say people commit suicide for different reasons, almost as if they don’t understand why it is even considered an option for them. While the do commit suicide by different means, the reason is always the same. They ran out of hope and no one thought to address that.
Isn’t it time we started to have healing awareness replace suicide awareness? After all, if we let people know they can heal, they have hope again. They listen to others who have been through what they are going through and know they are not alone. That they have nothing to be ashamed of. They find support and stop suffering in silence.
If you want to make a difference, then make a difference in what you raise awareness of to change the outcome.
Through it all
Josh Groban Angel
She offers me protection
A lot of love and affection
Whether I’m right or wrong
And down the waterfall
Wherever it may take me
I know that life won’t break me
When I come to call
She won’t forsake me
I’m loving angels instead
