SuicideE_pistle

Suicide (from HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin" \o "Latin" Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending one's own life.

Suicide

He was only 17 and couldn’t find any more reason to live. Abandoned by his father, a victim of abuse, another move to a new town and the opportunity to once again be the new kid in school, the outsider, no real friends, daily fights with his mother and a dating relationship coming to an end; his world was getting darker everyday with no hope of light and no visible reason to continue on. The funny thing is that all who knew him knew this “happy” kid who was always laughing and making others laugh. But the pain that he hid behind his false smile was reaching the point of exploding.

Other than growing up in the church and knowing that God wouldn’t approve of this decision, there wasn’t a whole lot to keep him holding on, and at that point in time not even God seemed enough. Getting into his car, he sat, staring at nothing, put the key in the ignition and turned it. When he pulled out of the driveway to his house, there were tears in his eyes, sorry that he couldn’t have done more in his life yet with the intention to not come back. He had thought of this moment before. There was a highway that passed right on front of his house with some big curves and lots of trees. The only thing he had to do was drive really fast and when coming to a curve, not turn. He would hit the trees head on and end it all, the frustrations and deceptions of life, and for those who didn’t pay any attention to him; they would all notice him now.

He went about a mile and turned his car around. The moment to finally resolve his problems had come. He took a deep breath and putting his foot on the accelerator he grabbed the steering wheel firmly and fixed his eyes on the trees. And then he pressed his foot down on the accelerator; 10 miles per hours, 20, 40, 60, 80 and the trees coming faster and faster. He closed his eyes in one last act of closing the final chapter in his life. And without knowing what happened, he felt the car skid sideways on the gravel and come to a stop in the field next to the trees. Crying in desperation and shaking from the adrenaline pumping through his body, he just sat there still holding the steering wheel and staring straight ahead. He had almost killed himself, he wanted to die, yet he was still alive, he didn’t know what had happened. Maybe it was the hand of God, maybe just a reflex, he would never know.

In the past 25 years, while the general incidence of suicide has decreased, the rate for those between 15 and 24 has tripled.

It is generally considered to be the second or third most common cause of death among adolescents, even though it is seriously underreported.

For every teen suicide, there are 10 attempted suicides.

Girls attempt suicide three times more than boys, but more boys die from suicide because they use more violent methods.

40% of all high school students have thought about ending their own life.

What is it that drives a teenager to want to end it all?

Teenagers experience strong feelings of stress, confusion, doubt about their future, pressure to succeed, uncertainty as to finances, problems with their parents and the opposite sex, and other many other fears. For some, it could be a divorce in their family, the deception that they experience when two people who have declared their love for one another start to act in ways that are anything but love and eventually throw in the towel; step-mother, step-fathers, new brothers or sisters, uprooting, a new school, all of these are things that upset the foundation of their life, everything that was familiar to them, that brought them comfort and just like that, suicide seems like the only solution.

Suicide is generally premeditated, but not always. Many cases of suicide are spontaneous, but many come as a result of depression. A teenager that is thinking about killing himself might not always be able to see a way out of his problems, an escape from the emotional pain, or how to express his unhappiness or desperation. But the feeling in general is one of no help or no hope. We’ve all, been there. An individual totally caught up in a situation doesn’t always know where to turn or what to do and instead of acting upon what they don’t know, they keep thinking and meditating on how terrible the situation is and how there is no hope and along comes the devil with a solution,

“Why don’t you just kill yourself and end it all? It’s the only way. Nobody cares about you anyway. You’re all alone. Kill yourself and be free of this.”

And along with this voice come ideas of how and even where to do it. Without a doubt, there is a demon behind all of this. You have to cast that thing down and run; don’t stick around listening to him and his lies. Ask for help from your parents or friends, your pastor, anyone, but don’t stay there all alone with your fatalistic thoughts and the demon. Left all alone with these strong emotions of depression, sadness and alienation could lead you to feel even more desperate and to do something desperate of which you will have no way of undoing. Don’t stay there alone, go for help.

There is no shame in admitting that you need help. It’s a whole lot better than trying to fight this battle by yourself. There are people, believe it or not, who care about you. I know that there are times that it seems like no one really cares, but, trust me; it’s only your impression. Jesus cares about you and I guarantee you that there are others as well other than Him.

Choose life. There is always hope as long as there is life. But dead, there is no more hope. It’s “Game Over.” Life is not like “Counterstrike” in that you always have more lives. My friend, you only have one life given to you by God and it is to be enjoyed and used for His glory. Whatever you do, don’t quit.

Of course, maybe this person isn’t you; maybe it’s someone you know. If so, please hear this, if you know someone who is depressed or sad, don’t ignore it, check it out. See if there isn’t something really going on inside of them and if maybe there isn’t something that you can do. Better to act now and be wrong than not act at all and be right. Someone’s life might be depending on it. If the truth be known, many times, the best thing that you can do is just sit by their side and listen. And whatever you do, please never tell them that what they are feeling is silly or without foundation. To them, there is reason enough to consider taking their own life regardless of your opinion.

I am thankful to God that He intervened that day in my car and didn’t let me take my own life. He had more that He wanted to do in and through me. My friend, I understand your suffering, I’ve been there. I understand your desperate feelings, I too have felt them. I’m not going to try and make less of your feelings, nor will I try to judge whether or not there is any merit to them. They are your feelings; they are real to you and that it what is important. But one thing that I do know and maybe you don’t know yet is that God can and will come close to you if you will simply call out to Him.

Psalms 34:18; The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalms 147:3; He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Call out to Him, He’ll come and give you a reason to live.

God bless you!

Pr Jeff