Saturday, April 2, 2016

The importance of suicide prevention.

I have been reminded by a few people lately that there hasn't been any activity on my blog for quite some time, and that I haven't posted much in relation to this year's Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk.  Last night I had thought about the value of suicide prevention in a different way than I have in the past, so I want to share it here.  I wrote this in the middle of the night with pretty raw emotions going, so it reads like that... whatever that means...?

There's so much shit going on in the world, so many things worthy of our time, attention, money, learning, action... I don't know how to try to justify one “issue” over another- they are all so damn important.  Even vital.

Here in Minneapolis, we have been grappling with, grieving, lamenting, fighting against ignorance, educating... responding in so many ways to a recent incident (not the first and not the last) of a young black man losing his life due to systemic racial disparities and the grave consequences that follow them.  Last November and December I was part of an 18 day occupation of the precinct that housed the police officers who killed this young man.  And over the past 3.5 months I have joined in the protests, rallies, marches, etc. demanding that there be justice served.  And so far, there hasn't been any justice for Jamar, the young man who was murdered, at all.  There have been victories, our efforts have not totally been for nought.  But we have mostly been hushed, attacked, and disregarded.

And tonight, the tears just began to fall in a steady stream.  It is so fucked up.  Our city, our state, our nation, our world is SO fucked up.  To allow myself to just sit with that for a few seconds broke me.  I cannot comprehend how any significant change can happen.  I know it can, somehow, but I can't imagine it.  And right now, all this fuckery has a whole world of people in pain and brokenness and need and longing.  It sucks, a lot.

I turned to my dog, soundly asleep beside me, and I thanked her once again for being here because nights like tonight often hold the capacity to come damn close to landing a catastrophic blow of despair for me.

And then I thought about the Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk.  But I was wrestling with how to justify asking people to focus on and invest in this walk and suicide prevention, when there are countless other “issues” just as worthy.  And here's my thinking tonight...

The reason I mention my involved in what has been going on in Minneapolis is because it is notable in the sense that it is the first time in a long time that something has compelled me to get out of bed and leave my room and leave my house day after day. And it was in the middle of a Minnesota winter, almost all outside.  And multiple bus rides away.

I don't have any idea what impact my presence at any of this might bring, it's hard to imagine it doing much.  And, I know that a whole lot of folks simply coming together and raising one unified voice is one of the most powerful things there is.  And I know it takes a whole bunch of individuals bringing whatever they've got to the table to address the “issues” that surround us.  Therefore each single voice is of incalculable importance in any effort towards change.

Suicide steals an average of 117 of those voices every day.  
117 people gone TODAY because of suicide.

That is 117 people that can no longer effect change in any other “issue” that needs change.  117 voices silenced.  117 bodies erased.  117 stories ended.

And tomorrow there will be another 117.

I don't know what my life is doing- what impact it is having.  Most of the time I don't think it's doing much.  But- except in my darkest hours- I feel pretty confident that I need to be alive to have any sort of impact on anything or anyone.  I have to be alive to show up at a protest.  I have to be alive to have conversations about justice and peace.  I have to be alive to offer an understanding glance or even a handshake or a hug.  I have to show up to be counted or heard.  I have to be alive to help people understand mental illness and suicide.

So I think suicide prevention is absolutely a justifiable thing to ask you to invest your attention and even resources in, partly because it is what will keep people like me in the fight for everything else.  Prevent one suicide and who knows the impact that one person will have on the rest of the world.  To fight against suicide means increased opportunity for us to fight for so many other things- justice, peace, education, freedom, clean water, opportunity, you name it!

And so I walk (a protest of sorts) again this year.  In less than 2 months, in San Francisco.  And I am asking you to help make it possible for me to do so.  Please, if you are able, go to my fundraising page to donate.

* If you are curious and want to learn more about the walk, I have written about it a number of times over the past few years.  You can read all of those posts here.

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