September:
The month the leaves start to change colors, tank tops are exchanged for hoodies, and the cheers of football fans fill stadiums. September is synonymous for happiness, change, and comfort. What we fail to realize is that September has a darker side. It is the month dedicated to loss, guilt, anger, and fear. September is also National Suicide Prevention Month.
When we think suicide, we tend to romanticize and glamorize the action. We only focus on the end result. We don't like to visualize the person taking the drastic steps to end their life. We don't like to imagine their pain and suffering months leading up to their last day. We don't even like to think of the victim as a person when, in fact, they could be your mom, your boyfriend, even your teacher. All society focuses is on is the aftermath: the funeral, the flowers, the memorial dinner in your hometown. Let's stop with this way of thinking and focus on the important part of suicide: the prevention.
As much as textbooks like to make it seem easy, suicide is not something that is simple to spot. Some of the happiest, brightest people are carrying demons inside of them that are too much to handle. Let's stop believing that those who are suffering every day are supposed to show it on the outside.
I wrote this article to not only express my concern for how suicide is treated, but also as a reminder to those who are going through a tough time that situations do get better with time. Sometimes, the world seems like a dark, horrible place, but that's not true. People laugh, friends smile, the sun shines, the birds chip, and life goes on. Suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary pain.
I dedicate this article to my dear friend Austin who committed suicide his freshman year of high school. I never stop thinking about him and all the great things in life he could have done. I write this to him and anyone out there like him to tell him one last time how much void is in the world now that he is gone. I have included a couple of quotes that I wish he would have read:
- "Not all boats which sail away into darkness never find the sun again..." - Stephen King
- "The person who completes suicide, dies once. Those left behind die a thousand deaths, trying to relive those terrible moments and understand...why?" - Clark (2001)
- "Don't you dare tell me it won't change things. There may be stars in the sky and wind in the air and sun in the clouds but without you we do not want them."
- *in response to the claim that the world would be better off without that person*
The world is a darker place without you.
Austin Cole Wrana
04.14.1996 - 01.06.2012
