I am very opinionated and have no problem sharing my views on things. I don't candy coat anything and I don't care if I offend, I just happen to call things as I see them and if you have a problem with it then it's your problem, not mine :)
I have been on sort of a hiatus for awhile now but I cannot be away any longer. Late last night (early this morning?? LoL) I wrote this update over in The Personals, about how busy--and exciting!!--my life has been since the new year has begun. Today, while perusing the news sites, I stumbled upon a list of articles that made me stop and say, "What the hell is wrong with people??!!" Interestingly enough, they are all from the eastern side of the United States......Not sure if that is strictly coincidence or if more weirdos live there than here on the western side....
This is why I have come back to you. I just need to share with all of you the things that make me go, "What the hell??!!" and here they are:
5. Whatever happened to just picking them back off???
A sandwich shop employee was punched in the face for "putting too many pickles" on a customer's sandwich.....Let that sink in for just a minute. Yes, this really happened.
I can sympathize....I hate pickles too.
On Saturday, Tina Drouin stopped to get a steak and cheese sandwich from Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs at the Quincy train station in Massachusetts. While there, the forty-nine year old woman apparently became quite aggitated when the sandwich maker began putting "too many pickles" on her sandwich. Drouin is said to have screamed at the worker about the ratio of things on the sandwich, cursing and using derrogatory comments, until she finally demanded a refund.
Upon being told she wasn't going to be given a refund, she promptly punched the sandwich maker in the face, pushed "two large very heavy jars filled with pickles and pickle juice" towards the employee (knocking her to the ground, as well as, shattering all over the floor), and then proceeded to attempt to flee.
WHAT. THE. HELL...Seriously??
I want to know what was going on in this woman's head when she decided that punching the person making her sandwich was the best solution to the fact that she felt there were too many pickles on it AND the fact she wouldn't be getting the refund she was demanding for this supposed violation. She couldn't have possibly thought that was going to get her what she wanted. If she did, she wouldn't have ran away...
The sandwich maker, determined for some justice it would seem, ran after the woman who had assaulted her. Once she caught up to her attacker she managed to subdue her and "held her until police arrived." I'd say that was probably the most eventful day that employee has ever had!!
4. This puts a whole new meaning to the term "bible thumper"...
In Kings Mountain, North Carolina a woman is being held on $105,000 bond after being charged with two counts of assault and one count of burglary. The weapon she is accused of weilding in the attack (on at least one of the two victims)? A bible.
Bible thumpin' taken to a whole new level....
Yep. Evelyn Mills Moore, 57 years old, assaulted a woman with her fists and a bible causing bruising to the victim's head, face and arms.
WHAT. THE. HELL?? Who does things like this? I am a little curious to know what the cause of this fight was to begin with....Seriously though. What prompts a person to start beating someone with a bible? Was it something she was already holding or perhaps the closest thing at hand, making it a weapon of opportunity? Was this a random argument or was it a religious debate turned violent? I, sadly, have no idea but, as someone who is not religious, this whole thing cracks me up! Isn't the irony just hilarious??!!
Wait!! She didn't just stop with attacking this woman with a bible. Mills Moore is also accused of "inflicting serious injury after striking a man with her fist causing numerous
abrasions on his head, face and arms and a knot near his right eye," according to arrest warrants. No word on if this man was also struck with said bible...
3. On the flip side of that story, we have this:
A 23 year old Georgia woman was arrested for STEALING a bible from Barnes & Noble. She was charged with a misdemeanor and let go after posting the $1000 bond.
Who steals bibles from bookstores??!! Any church will give you one for FREE, all you have to do is ask. This pastor even confirmed this for the rest of the world when he stated:
"We believe that God’s word should be given freely, and so if someone
comes in to our campus and they don’t have God’s word, then we are very
happy to give them a copy of God’s word." ~~Mark Scardino, Roswell Street Baptist Church Pastor
Doesn't the bible preach that stealing is a sin? I'm sure I read that somewhere in there (a very long time ago). If Ashley Fleming wasn't aware of this beforehand, she certainly is now. And I can bet that she is feeling pretty dumb right about now...
2. Where are the chicken wings??!!
Last month in Memphis, Tennessee two men were arrested for brandishing an AK-47 style gun at the drive-thru window of a chicken restaurant because the establishment reportedly didn't give them their entire order.
Don't you forget my wings!!
According to authorities, Antonius Hart Sr. and his son, Antonius Hart Jr. went to Pirtle's Chicken and placed an order to go. The pair then proceeded to drive off before realizing that they hadn't gotten the chicken wings they ordered. The duo then drove back to the establishment and brandished a weapon on the cashier who messed up their order.
Hold up!! WHAT. THE. HELL!!
Who brandishes an automatic weapon--bought specifically for this occasion, no less--just because the restaurant forgot part of your order?? This is another case where I'd love to know the thought process behind these actions...especially since the establishment was more than willing to accomodate the customer by providing the forgotten food, since they realized their own mistake. This, however, was just not good enough for the father/son duo and once their demands for more food--as compensation for having to drive back to the restaurant--were 'shot down' (pun intended LoL) they brandished their weapon...Which prompted employees to call the cops instead of complying with demands.
Police responded to the call for help and arrested both men on the scene. The weapon and 24 live rounds of ammunition were also confiscated from their vehicle.
~~~***Violence and threats of violence WILL NOT win you friends or get you what you want out of life without there being serious consequences...Let's think about this people***~~~
1. Prostitution Ring Bust......at a Senior Citizen Home???!!!
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THESE DAYS??!! This is no joke--though it is a hilarious thing to laugh at I suppose.
Two residents--James Parham, 75, and Cheryl Chaney, 66--have been arrested for allegedly, "running a prostitution ring out of their apartments, using cocaine, and
ultimately causing drunks and drug addicts to bother others living in
the building, pass out in the halls, and leave used condoms in the rec
room." A third, unnamed 54 year old suspect has also been arrested on drug charges.
Parham freely admits that he brandished crack-addicted prositutes to the younger residents of the complex though it is unclear what role Chaney played in this scheme. It is also unclear how long these things had been going on in this complex but police stated that, "many [residents] were scared to leave their apartments."
Of course they were!! I am in my mid-twenties and even I would be afraid to leave my apartment if this were a regular thing in the hallways and apartments surrounding mine.
I am not truly surprised by any of these accounts, however. I have, very sadly, come across even crazier things than these. Today, though, these are the ones that really caught my attention and so I had to share. These things really do make me sit back and wonder aloud what the hell is wrong with people....And then I rememeber....People are dumb.
September 9 through September 15, 2012 Suicide Prevention Awareness Week
Every year since 1974 ('75?), the nation has come together in a
week-long campaign to help promote Suicide Prevention Awareness. All sorts of events are held all over our
country, in the hopes that the information received there will help keep even
just one person from committing suicide. The idea is to draw attention to
suicide prevention, suicide warning signs, reduce stigma surrounding the topic
of suicide (so that more prevention happens), encourage those who need it to
seek mental health assistance, and to support those who have attempted suicide,
as well as those who have lost someone to suicide.
Walks are organized, screenings are done, information is
handed out, and memorials are held for those who have been lost. Fundraisers
collect money for research for mental health issues, and for existing suicide
prevention outlets.All of this helps
coincide with what is known as World Suicide Prevention Day, which is held
annually on the 10th of September. As the name would imply, this is
the day that suicide prevention is recognized all over the world.
For my small part in helping promote and spread awareness, I
am posting one blog post every day this week—Suicide Prevention Awareness Week—in
the hope that even one person may be saved. I have experienced loss to suicide
myself (some time ago now) and find this to be a therapeutic way for me to deal
with that grief.
I intend to give you as much information as I can on suicide
but I also strongly encourage you to take the time to read the personal stories
attached within all the facts. These are real people, with real stories that I
have collected, just for this occasion. They wanted to let anyone who reads
their stories to know that they are not alone in whatever they are going
through. There is hope and there is help.
Thank you for stopping by to check this out. Suicide is
preventable. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to spread the word, so pass
this along as you see fit to. Here’s to hoping we can help save some lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is going to be the last installment of my suicide awareness series. I hope that everyone has benefited from reading everything so far.
Today, I will share some resources for anyone who is thinking of attempting suicide and for anyone who has lost someone to suicide. This is by no means a complete comprehensive list, but I hope that it is at least a place to start.
In the next few weeks, I will be adding a more complete resources page to my blog. I want a place where the information below is readily available for anyone to find and utilize, so keep a lookout for it.
Remember, suicide is 100% preventable. Sometimes, all it takes is to talk to someone who will listen. You are NOT alone and you ARE loved. If anyone tells you differently, they are WRONG.
You may need to view this video in fullscreen mode to read all of the cards...
This is Hannah Novak and this is what she has to say to you about suicide. Please watch all the way through to the end. Thank you for sharing this with the world Hannah! Your message is honest and inspiring :) You are a wonderful girl.
If you have lost someone to suicide, or know someone who has, you can use any or all of the above hotlines and chat lines for immediate information, help, and support. There are trained individuals to help you understand and manage your grief on the other end of these support lines. Please, use them.
Here are some additional resources that you can use to help you deal with your loss:
Simply click on one of the above mentioned organizations and you should be directed straight to each of the resource pages. Many of these resource pages have websites listed to visit, links to online support groups, information about suicide and grief, and even book listings to take a look at. Take a few minutes to look around each of these resources and find the best ones for your needs.
Always remember: If you are in immediate danger, or know someone who is, call 911 (or any other local emergency contact number) and/or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
I hope this has helped in some way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Year Ago...
1/31/04
For: Hanse Joshua Peterson
3/27/87 to 2/4/03
Sick and twisted thoughts stir in my mind
Guilt of the tragedy is all that's left behind
Memories of who he was are fading fast
How long is this pain inside going to last?
Four days from now it will have been a year
The loss of someone close is what I fear
What did he think when he breathed his last breath?
Was he scared when he knowingly embraced his own death?
Suicide Action Montreal
514-723-4000
24 hours; 7 days a week
If you live in the Tillamook area,
there is an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop that
you can attend. According to the information ad in our local newspaper:
"Asist is a comprehensive
suicide intervention training. ASIST is the result of more than 20 years of
research and development, and is the most widely used suicide intervention
program in the world. ASIST is partially funded through a federal grant
targeting suicide prevention alternative.
By the end of the workshop you will
know:
The signs
of suicidal thinking
How to
intervene to prevent immediate risk of suicide
The
resources available in your area"
If you are interested in attending
this workshop it will be held on September 20th and September 21st from 9 am
until 5 pm atTillamook Bay Community College (TBCC). Registration for
attendance is required. The cost to attend is $30 per
person and for Social Workers, Counselors, and First Responders there are
Continuing Education Credits available for taking this workshop. If you would
like to register, please take a moment to call (503) 842-8201 ext. 271.
This has been a big personal project for me. While the
initial idea for an informational post-a-day for suicide prevention awareness
week was indeed mine, I do have to admit that the idea to incorporate personal
stories into each post, was not mine alone. I have to give that credit to Lisa
Richards.
In my initial research for current information on suicide
facts and statistics, I came across her website and read her homepage, which
explains what her book is about. Richards lost her eighteen year old daughter
to suicide in 2011 and began collecting letters from all of Mallory’s family
and friends. Each page in the book is filled with love and loss…laughter and
heartbreak. I found this to be incredibly touching and couldn’t shake a serious
case of the goosebumps.
Due to the intense reaction I felt to just reading the
homepage of her website, the idea that incorporating personal stories into my
posts was born. I hoped that someone reading my posts would be as deeply
affected by the personal stories shared there as I was by this loving gesture. So, a great big thank you to Lisa Richards.
You are an inspiring and strong woman.
On that note, I wish to thank the wonderful guest bloggers
that gave me the pleasure of showcasing their spectacular writing skills, as
well as, their very real and personal experiences with suicide. I really feel
honored to share their stories with all of you in the hopes that it will help
spread awareness. They are wonderfully strong women who are, I believe at
least, fabulous writers. If you haven’t already checked out their blogs, you
should head on over and do so now! Just the Messenger. and Diary of a Madwoman, thank you again
so very much!!
And last, but certainly not least, I want to thank all of my
terrific family and friends who also helped me with this important project by
sharing their own stories and experiences. I feel like a great weight of my
posts couldn’t have been possible without your help and input. I can never
thank you enough for allowing me this privilege.
"Ok, so my story... not really sure what to include so I'll
do pretty much everything.
I have a family history
of mental illness, my mom is majorly depressed, anxiety, PTSD, etc. My father is
bipolar, psycho, rage. My father was an abusive asshole to my mom—actually I
was a rape baby while she was on birth control. He threatened to kill her if
she aborted me. So, after I was born she fled away from him with my aunt to Washington
state. Somehow, he always kept finding her and beating the shit out of her. That
is until my 5th birthday. She figured out that he was able to pay the post
office $1 and if he knew the old address, [he could] get the new address. So,
she fixed that and we finally got away from him. Unfortunately, for me, I was
out of a physically abusive situation and into a mentally and emotionally
abusive one.
I am bipolar, anxiety, mania, psychosis, schizoaffective...
and a very high IQ. My mom didn't know how to handle me, so we always fought.
She didn't mean to, but she always ended up trying to stifle me. She was a
single parent working 2-3 jobs. As I got older, things only got worse. It
turned physically abusive as well. I finally crossed the line in middle school,
and I threatened the school cop, and was sent to Texas to live with my aunt,
again.
This was quite possibly the worst experience of my life.
They treated me like the redheaded stepchild. I was never included in anything.
They treated me like a prisoner. Worse even. It was during this period that my
depression worsened from [just] depression to suicidal ideations and self-mutilation.
I had been slightly suicidal already since about 2nd grade. I used to hide in
my closet with a butcher knife held to my heart just wishing for the courage to
plunge it through my chest. In 3rd grade I was hospitalized after walking to
school in the bike lane, since there were no sidewalks. They thought I was
trying to kill myself. I wasn't at the time, and it only taught me how to
manipulate the system. It didn't do anything to help me.
So in 7th grade when I went to Texas, I started cutting
myself on a daily basis almost. I remember the first time I ever did it was on
Thanksgiving in 1999. I had been there for about 6 months and I had found
quickly that everything they had promised me was a lie. They claimed they
treated me like their own child, but if I so much as blinked wrong I was in a
living nightmare. Whereas their kids could disappear without any notice until
10ish at night and they [would] just blow it off. Then in 8th grade there was a
choir concert and everyone was cheering for their friends. I had bad timing
apparently and cheered for a split second after everyone had stopped. I stopped
as soon as I realized this mind you, but they didn't believe it. So what was my
punishment for such a heinous crime? I got to stay up all night on school
nights for some 'quality time' with my drill sergeant uncle. He put me through
military boot camp PT all night, let me get 2 hours of sleep, made me go to
school like that, and do it all over again. For weeks.
Needless to say, this did nothing for my mental state. They
had also withheld my Christmas gifts from me, but had filmed the whole thing
for family and my mother to see, so they made me pretend to open my things and
be happy. I wasn't. Then you take into account that I was molested by my older
cousin a couple times. I had no desire to continue living. I got so deep into
cutting myself that I made morbid little designs and decorations on my arms. I
thought they were beautiful. I still do.
Cutting/self -mutilation is an addiction. I haven't done it
on a regular basis since I was 19, but I still have the urge to do it every
year or two. In fact just writing this is making me itch for it. It's such an
amazing sense of relief from the stress and anxiety built up inside of you.
It's more powerful than any drug in the world. I should know, I'm no stranger
to them.
In 11th grade I tried to kill myself by swallowing a bottle
of sleeping pills and was hospitalized again. This time I was prepared but they
still managed to catch me off guard. They drugged me before I went to see the
shrink and was high out of my mind. The first morning I woke up, granted the
only morning I was there, the girl in the room with me and her friend asked me
if I wanted to burn myself with salt and ice. No, I can't say that I do. There
were about 3 people including myself who were there because they were genuinely
depressed and suicidal. All the others, well, they were just behavior problems
that their parents didn't want to deal with. Take my roommate for example, she
was around 9-10 and her grandmother was her guardian. She was supposed to show
up that day to visit, but she didn't. So the child started throwing a fit and
trashing the place. Thankfully my mom was there to see it. I had told her the
place was literally making me crazier but she didn't believe me. For some
reason she had stuck around longer than expected and when she saw that girl she
immediately checked me out. It was an incredibly unhealthy place.
I had always hated being on medication. I had been on 19
different meds between 6 and 11 years old. So, I was on anti-psych medications until
I was 19. At which point, I realized I really needed help and decided I wanted
to get somewhere in life. I wanted to be a psychiatrist and help other people
in my situation. Unfortunately that wouldn't really happen. When I was 20,
almost 21, I had surgery to remove my gallbladder and would discover that I'm
terminally ill. I decided that I'd be a nurse then since it didn't take as long
as psychiatry. That didn't work out either. The pain in my kidneys got to be
too much for me to even go to school and lately to even function normally.
Nursing was definitely out of the question.
It didn't seem fair that all the time I spent wanting to die
on account of my depression, I would overcome it mostly just to find out it
wasn't really any better. Nowadays, I'm still suicidal, but in a different way.
I'm terminally ill. I suffer on a daily basis in incredible
pain and I'm on high enough doses of narcotics to kill a few people with one
dose of my meds. Now I want to die to end my suffering. I believe in assisted
suicide for the terminally ill. I feel we're more humane to our animals than we
are our sick and dying.
I've recently come up with an idea for a charity/foundation
to help people who are suicidal get help. I'm also focusing very heavily on
cutting and self-mutilation needing addiction help. I've been lucky enough to
be able to collaborate on it with Bert McCracken of The Used, my absolute
favorite band.
I don't believe that my desire to die currently is wrong in
any way. My pain will never end. Yours can. So please never give up and find
help if you need it. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm lucky enough to have a
husband who takes care of me in light of all my problems. You'll get through
it. I promise. It may not be incredibly soon, mine took most of my life, but it
will get better." ~~Stephani Trioli~~
Thank you so much Steph :) I love you sweetheart, so much! I'm so excited for you for being able to collaborate with Bert for you project! And, I am proud of you for trying to help spread awareness as well. *Hugs and Kisses*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you need someone to talk to, please call the number above.
There is someone one the other end who WANTS to help you.
Suicide is NOT the answer.
September 9 through September 15, 2012 Suicide Prevention Awareness Week
Every year since 1974 ('75?), the nation has come together in a
week-long campaign to help promote Suicide Prevention Awareness. All sorts of events are held all over our
country, in the hopes that the information received there will help keep even
just one person from committing suicide. The idea is to draw attention to
suicide prevention, suicide warning signs, reduce stigma surrounding the topic
of suicide (so that more prevention happens), encourage those who need it to
seek mental health assistance, and to support those who have attempted suicide,
as well as those who have lost someone to suicide.
Walks are organized, screenings are done, information is
handed out, and memorials are held for those who have been lost. Fundraisers
collect money for research for mental health issues, and for existing suicide
prevention outlets.All of this helps
coincide with what is known as World Suicide Prevention Day, which is held
annually on the 10th of September. As the name would imply, this is
the day that suicide prevention is recognized all over the world.
For my small part in helping promote and spread awareness, I
am posting one blog post every day this week—Suicide Prevention Awareness Week—in
the hope that even one person may be saved. I have experienced loss to suicide
myself (some time ago now) and find this to be a therapeutic way for me to deal
with that grief.
I intend to give you as much information as I can on suicide
but I also strongly encourage you to take the time to read the personal stories
attached within all the facts. These are real people, with real stories that I
have collected, just for this occasion. They wanted to let anyone who reads
their stories to know that they are not alone in whatever they are going
through. There is hope and there is help.
Thank you for stopping by to check this out. Suicide is
preventable. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to spread the word, so pass
this along as you see fit to. Here’s to hoping we can help save some lives.
"After years of abuse of all
kinds I had a pretty low self-esteem. Feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred
led me into deep depression. The only thing I ever wanted was to be loved and
not getting any led to thoughts of suicide. The only way I can describe the way
it feels is that there is a big black hole inside of me. A void if you will.
The longer I go without feeling loved the blacker it gets.
Finding someone to
love me for me has been a life-long journey. There were a few times I thought I
found it but as time goes on it turns out to be a fruitless effort. And I’m
once again in darkness. Any disappointment or being spoken to in a certain way
brings on the depression as well as the suicidal thoughts.
I have tried to kill
myself too many times to count. It didn’t work cause I’m still here. Someone
always intervened and kept me alive. The last time I tried I got locked up in
the looney bin. I was thinking of doing it again when I found out that I was
pregnant.
That baby saved my life and I’m still here today because of my three
girls and now for my grandbaby." ~~Tanya
**I love you mom. I am more than happy to have (unknowingly) saved your life. Thank you for letting me share this with everyone.**
Many people who commit suicide do so because they believe that no one will care if they are gone and they feel like there is no other way for them to end their pain and suffering. Both presumptions are wrong. If you are having suicidal thoughts or behaviors there are things that you can do--other than attempt/commit suicide.
If you are currently struggling with thoughts of suicide or suicidal behaviors, here is what you can do:
Talk with someone you trust about these things, ask for their help in seeking treatment
Talk with a counselor or therapist about these things
Sometimes, writing in a journal can be a healthy outlet for these thoughts and substitute for the behaviors
Call the local, national, and international (if it applies) hotlines dedicated to suicide prevention
Call 911 or any other emergency services number and inform the operator/dispatcher of your crisis
Stay away from ANYTHING that you can use to harm yourself
Check yourself into a local hospital
Go to the emergency room
If you are someone who thinks they have a loved one considering suicide, here is what you can do:
Assure the person that you are there for them to talk to and that you will help them in any way that you possibly can
Ask questions
"Are you okay?"
"Is there something you would like to, or need to, talk about?"
"Are you thinking of committing suicide?"
NEVER keep someone's plan of suicide a secret
Tell someone who can help the person seek proper treatment
DON'T try to minimize the person's problems
DON'T try to shame the person into changing their mind
Acknowledge their pain is legitimate and offer to work with them to seek help
Call 911 or any other emergency services number and inform the operator/dispatcher of the crisis
Call local, national, and/or international suicide prevention hotlines
Often times, people forget or fail to realize that the pain of losing someone is terribly burdensome. Many suicide survivors feel as if they are alone and have no one they can turn to. This in turn can lead to severe isolation and depression for survivors.
NEVER blame the survivor for the death of the victim
90% of suicides have underlying conditions such as clinical depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar illness, and schizophrenia.
Depression in not caused just by life events like losing a job, dissolution of a relationship, or feelings of rejection in general, but a chemical imbalance in the brain as well.
Express sympathy and empathy
Understand that the survivor may be experiencing a multitude of emotions
Shock
Rage/anger
Sadness/depression
Confusion
Relief
Remember that everyone grieves in their own ways and times
Ask questions
"Are you okay?"
"Do you want or need to talk?"
Really listen to the survivor and offer help and advice appropriately
Read books about suicide and grieving after suicide
Find out about suicide survivor grief/support groups in your community
Know that the emotions you are feeling, even suicidal ones, are normal. If you feel you are in immediate danger of suicidal acts call 911 immediately.
Know that it is okay to grieve.
Know that it is okay to be angry or fearful.
Know that it is okay to feel helpless and alone, these things are common.
Give yourself time to grieve. Healing is a time consuming process. Take as long as you need.
Keep asking yourself "why" until you no longer need to ask at all
Know that it is okay to laugh and cry
Delay making major life decisions immediately following the suicide death of a loved one
Be patient with yourself
Find out about suicide survivor grief/support groups in your community
Attend on your own
Attend with a friend or family member
Avoid people who tell you how to feel or what to do
Don't be afraid to seek professional help
Read books on suicide and grieving after suicide
Don't be afraid to talk to close friends and family
They may not talk about it freely in the mistaken thought that it may be too painful for you. Go ahead and initiate a conversation.
Realize that it is okay to go on with your life.
It doesn't mean you didn't love the person or that you don't miss them. It just means that you are slowly learning to live a little differently without them, one day at a time.
"There [were] two friends of mine [who] grew up together. They did everything together.
If one tried out for sports the other one did too. There names were Jack and
John. Their nicknames that I gave them were the Twin J's. The reason I called
them that is because they liked anime. They collected books, comic books, toys, and
shows of there favorite characters.
One day Jack's parents told him some bad news. That his
father had colon cancer and that he only has a few months to live. His father
and him were best friends so it really hurt him. Jack went in a deep
depression. He pushed himself away from his friends including John. Some weeks
later he started coming back. Four months later, he was getting back to normal. Then the tragady happened. His father died. Jack went off the deep end. It
looked like he went into a coma. He didn't do anything. He just stayed in his
room. We all went over to his house day after day to show him that we care
about him and his situation.
One day while I was at work. I got a call from Jack's mom.
She said that she got a call from the hospital saying Jack had been shot. I
left work and met her at the hospital. I asked her what happened and she said
no one had told her anything yet. A few minutes later the doctor came out and
told her that her son had died. She dropped to the floor and started to cry.
I
asked the doctor how he got shot. Just then, two cops walked up to us and explained that
they pulled him over for speeding and as the cops were getting out of their car,
Jack got out and pointed a gun at the cops. They warned Jack to drop the gun
but he didn't and Jack loaded the gun. Jack shot once and the cops shot back.
She got upset with the cops but the cops knew she was upset about her son being
dead. The doctor handed a piece of paper to one of the cops that they found on
Jack and then the cop handed it to Jack's mom. It stated:
I can't stay in this world any longer. I can't live without my father. So I'm
going to kill myself. I don't know how or where.(Jack's Suicide Note)
So it seems that he used the cops for his suicide. It's
called Suicide by Cop.
Jack's mom went into a deep depression and John was
depressed too. I was a little depressed but I was worried about John and Jack's
mom. So I pushed it aside. What I did was, I brought John over to Jack's mom's
house and I talked to them, showed them that I loved them. I did that
everyday. I also took care of them for a month and a half. They
were coming around at that time. Jack's mom [then] decided to move in with her brother
in Colorado and John moved with his parents because his father got a better job offer. I
haven't seen them since.
My depression stayed [with me] but I had my other friends to
help me through it." ~~Sam S.
**Sam, I love you buddy. I am glad that you made it through that tough time and that you had wonderful friends who could be there for you. Thank you for letting me share your story with everyone.**
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I want to thank everyone for letting me use their stories to help spread awareness to those in need. I know I have said something similar in every post thus far (and believe me, tomorrow's thanks section is a little long) but I really am appreciative of everyone's help with this project.
I also want to remind everyone that if you live in the Tillamook area,
there is an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop that
you can attend. According to the information ad in our local newspaper:
"Asist is a comprehensive
suicide intervention training. ASIST is the result of more than 20 years of
research and development, and is the most widely used suicide intervention
program in the world. ASIST is partially funded through a federal grant
targeting suicide prevention alternative.
By the end of the workshop you will
know:
The signs
of suicidal thinking
How to
intervene to prevent immediate risk of suicide
The
resources available in your area"
If you are interested in attending
this workshop it will be held on September 20th and September 21st from 9 am
until 5 pm atTillamook Bay Community College (TBCC). Registration for
attendance is required. The cost to attend is $30 per
person and for Social Workers, Counselors, and First Responders there are
Continuing Education Credits available for taking this workshop. If you would
like to register, please take a moment to call (503) 842-8201 ext. 271.
Tomorrow is the last segment in the series I have for Suicide Awareness Prevention Week. In it, you will find resources for those who are considering suicide and resources for those who are considered suicide survivors. I hope that you come back tomorrow and I hope that you will spread the information to someone who could use it.
If you need someone to talk to, please call the number above.
There is someone one the other end who WANTS to help you.
Suicide is NOT the answer.
