Senior Speech, Oct 14 2010
In the last month, six young adults, between the ages of 13 and 20 years old have killed themselves. Six. One suicide is a tragedy. Six is devastating. And each of the six people committed suicide all for the same reason- because they were not accepted by society. Because society said their beliefs were morally wrong and because they each believed they had no one they could reach out and talk to. Each of the six students felt so wronged by society, so pushed away and left out, that they believed they no longer had a reason to live. Six human beings had been so tormented and punished by others that they decided to end their own lives.
I have been in that position. I have been in that black hole, where you think no one can ever understand the hurt you are feeling, and you think that people will just brush off whatever it is you have to say as being part of a teenager with mixed emotions. It is a scary place to be. To be in so much pain, whether its mental or physical pain, that you believe you have no way out except by ending your own life? It is a lot for one person to handle on their own. A year ago, I thought I had no way out. I was homesick and upset, I was not sleeping, and I felt like the world was closing in on me. I found myself living in the past, and unable to forget it in order to enjoy the present. I was void of nearly every emotion except for hurt, anger, and pain. To put it bluntly, I was depressed. That depression turned into something much worse, to the point where I did not want to live my own life anymore. Many of us often say “kill me now” or “I’m going to shoot myself” as expressions on a daily basis. Even I’m guilty of it every now and then. Most of the time, we use these phrases in reference to the fact that we may have a huge test that we’re not really ready for, or maybe there’s a meeting we don’t want to be at. But I’m willing to bet that most of the people in this room don’t think about what saying things like that could actually mean to others, and I wouldn’t expect you to. Talks of suicide, serious talks are not something we hear in every day conversation. 121 million people WORLDWIDE suffer from depression according to the World Health Organization. 23% of those people never seek treatment. And believe it or not, untreated depression is the number one cause of suicide in the world. To this day, suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. Kids, just like you and me.
How come these people don’t just go get treated? Because telling someone you are depressed, or that you are having thoughts of suicide is a lot harder than one might think. To open up about something like that means sharing a secret that you have had buried for so long, you don’t think anybody will listen. The Center for Disease Control reports that suicide is the third leading cause of death amongst youth aged 15-24. Think about that for a minute. That easily means at least one person in this room probably knows someone who has committed suicide. Pain- and depression- don’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter if you’re big, or small, black, white, Asian, fat, or skinny, young or old. Pain is pain, and to sit here and know that in the last month, 6 people killed themselves because no one bothered to ask them what was wrong, or even if they just wanted to talk- it’s unacceptable, and perhaps a hint at one of the major problems in our society.
To Write Love On Her Arms is a non-profit organization that has dedicated their work to fighting depression, no matter what age you are, but especially for youth and young adults. TWLOHA started as a way for one person to save a friend’s life, and has turned into a vision that believes in hope, and that believes in the idea that your story and your life matters. The idea that a conversation can change the course of someone’s life is radical. What saved my life was the fact that someone talked to me, and got me to open up, when I wasn’t even really sure I wanted to. Maybe saving a life is as simple as suggesting that the things you have to say matter, that your story matters and that hope matters. The idea that hope and love and rescue are all possible things may seem a little corny or cliché, but then again, maybe it’s these simple ideas that can make just that tiny difference in someone’s life. Maybe a conversation is all those six kids needed. Maybe the thought, the simple idea that there is freedom from your pain, is all that really counts.