check on your neighbor
*Trigger warning: This blog entry mentions suicide.
In our current sermon series “The Sacred Between Us,” we have discussed our neighbors. As we learn about our neighbors and how to care for one another, I can’t think of a more relevant instance to check on your neighbor.
September is Suicide Prevention Month. After reading about a couple of recent incidents I felt compelled to share. According to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Suicide is the 3 rd leading cause of death for people 15 -24. There are also numerous statistics about veterans, individuals with mental illness, the unsheltered population, queer population, and the incarcerated that are more than a little alarming. Check on your neighbors, reach out, text, call, write a letter, drive by, send a smoke signal.
Ask, ask, ask.
There are many demographics listed above. This means YOU ARE NOT ALONE! If you are struggling, please reach out. The easiest way is to call or text 988. A mental health problem is not a spiritual problem. Our mental health is just as important as our physical and spiritual health. They are cohesive in making the full person you are. Taking medication or going to therapy are not spiritual issues. If your thyroid was underactive and you could take a pill for it to function normally you would do it, correct?
So, what’s the difference?
There are many stigmas related to suicide. The words and thoughts about it need to change. In his book Depression, Anxiety, and Other Things We Don’t Want to Talk About, Ryan Casey Walker has some great insight.
People don’t commit suicide. People die from suicide. People commit murder and people commit perjury. People die from depression, or from pain, and from suicide. When you are grieving what is one of the most complicated of deaths, any inclination that what that person did in their last moments was criminal in nature must be avoided. These people aren’t weak, or crazy, or morally flawed. They are precious children of God who suffered an untimely sorrowful death. We should speak about these people with great respect, for who among us has suffered so greatly.
Please check on your neighbors.
In our current sermon series “The Sacred Between Us,” we have discussed our neighbors. As we learn about our neighbors and how to care for one another, I can’t think of a more relevant instance to check on your neighbor.
September is Suicide Prevention Month. After reading about a couple of recent incidents I felt compelled to share. According to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Suicide is the 3 rd leading cause of death for people 15 -24. There are also numerous statistics about veterans, individuals with mental illness, the unsheltered population, queer population, and the incarcerated that are more than a little alarming. Check on your neighbors, reach out, text, call, write a letter, drive by, send a smoke signal.
Ask, ask, ask.
There are many demographics listed above. This means YOU ARE NOT ALONE! If you are struggling, please reach out. The easiest way is to call or text 988. A mental health problem is not a spiritual problem. Our mental health is just as important as our physical and spiritual health. They are cohesive in making the full person you are. Taking medication or going to therapy are not spiritual issues. If your thyroid was underactive and you could take a pill for it to function normally you would do it, correct?
So, what’s the difference?
There are many stigmas related to suicide. The words and thoughts about it need to change. In his book Depression, Anxiety, and Other Things We Don’t Want to Talk About, Ryan Casey Walker has some great insight.
People don’t commit suicide. People die from suicide. People commit murder and people commit perjury. People die from depression, or from pain, and from suicide. When you are grieving what is one of the most complicated of deaths, any inclination that what that person did in their last moments was criminal in nature must be avoided. These people aren’t weak, or crazy, or morally flawed. They are precious children of God who suffered an untimely sorrowful death. We should speak about these people with great respect, for who among us has suffered so greatly.
Please check on your neighbors.
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