Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain recently committed suicide, within a week of each other. These 2 deaths are very tragic, and evidence that money and fame do not give you immunity to mental illness.
I started seeing Facebook posts urging people to check up on their friends, explaining that your happiest friend could be the most depressed one.
These 2 celebrity suicides are a perfect opportunity to spread awareness of mental illness, but I'm personally bothered by the fact that it was THESE 2 deaths that made people want to start checking up on your friends. You should check on your friends regardless.
As a society, we always want to do something when it's too late.
How could we have prevented this? Ask your friends how they're doing. That alone is enough to get some people out of bed in the morning. Let your friends know how much you love and appreciate them, and tell them that you're there for them.
Yes, awareness needs to be spread, but don't do it only after a suicide and then forget about it a week later. Awareness needs to be spread 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You need to check up on your friends daily. Don't do it only after a famous person commits suicide.
In my eyes, when people start caring AFTER something happens, it looks like you never really cared at all....it just looks like you want to feel part of the crowd.
If you really cared, you'd check up on your friends regularly.
