Suicide Awareness Promotion

I have been dreadful about posting lately. It's not that there was nothing to blog about. On the contrary, there have been several news stories of late that mention "suicide" even if only for a fleeting moment. In fact, each day this week has presented an opportunity to blog with the news stories. Suicides in the Military are finally being acknowledged. This tells me there is a serious problem with suicides in the lives (and deaths) of US troops. When the government comes out with a little dripping of information, there is surely a flood behind the veil. Troops are exposed to horrific circumstances; they are worlds away from loved-ones, and lets face it, lack of a close support base can lead to suicide among even the toughest sorts. So say a little thank you today. Express gratitude for the life you live. No matter how you feel about war, please take a moment to send out a little positive energy beam into the universal flow. Send some love and light. It's good for the soul. It's good for the WHOLE.
On another horrific note, I learned a new statistic this week. My apologies for saying this, but it MUST be shared. "Suicide is the number 5 cause of death in children ages FIVE (5) years old to ages FOURTEEN (14). " WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? How can a five-year-old possibly commit suicide? Does a five year old even have the mental capacity to understand how finite death is? I don't think so. A cartoon character almost always snaps back to life for the next episode. A kid is not equipped to understand death. Really, how many adults can honestly say they can imagine a life without themself? Have you ever tried to picture the earth without you being a part of it? I think it may just be impossible to truly have a grasp on the fatality of death. Even adolescents who take suicide as a way out of pain, cannot truly know what they are doing. Death is glamorized by the media. Impressionable youth with yet-to-be-fully-developed frontal lobes (that control reasoning) are exposed to too much, with too little information. But a five to fourteen year old, what do they know of life? So how could they possibly know about death. It befuddles me. It hurts my heart. And I want parents to KNOW that it happens. So I blog today. And I suppose, the blogging is as much to lift this hurt from my heart, as it is to educate the masses. No more ostriches. It's time we raise our heads and face the facts, the cold and brutal statistics of suicide.
November 17th is the 9th Annual Suicide Awareness Day. Save the date. There will be an assortment of venues across the nation designated to awareness. Watch this blog for more details to be announced, coming soon. Together, we will make a difference.
Ahimsa.