Suicide
In 1985, James Crowley, a kid from my high school who I never liked, hanged himself at the age of 15.
In 1986, my friend Christy Reidy did the job with pills. She was 16 or 17.
A few years later, in 1990, my friend John St. John got drunk and put a hole through his head with his dad’s service revolver.
Just 3 years ago, my friend Matt Champlin, at the age of 30-something, went to Connecticut for a job interview and hanged himself in a closet using the tie he was to wear at his appointment,/a>.
Suffice it to say, I know a thing or two about suicide.
That why, when I read through Pam’s House Blend that “[t]he government has ceased its funding for [1-800-SUICIDE, THE NATIONAL SUICIDE HOTLINE]” I get a little pissed off.
And by “pissed off” I mean my head is about to explode.
As most people know, I’m a proponent of suicide. I don’t see it as a coward’s way out, or the eay way out, or whatnot: I see it as “taking control of one’s destiny”. Kenn Kweder has a great song about it.
That said:
** it’s the final decision
** it’s a decision for adults and the elderly
** it’s not one that teenagers should be making.
Teenaged suicide is horrible. Anyone who recalls their teenage years knows what a brutal, painful time it was. I was a skinny kid with greasy hair who didn’t like gym: if I wasn’t a punk rocker with a bunch of friends, I don’t know how I would have survived. James Crowley was a popular, good-looking kid, on the various sports teams. He’s dead and I’m alive.
Kids get all sorts of ideas into their heads, exacerbated by their wildly fluctuating hormones, and their grasping for identity. What to an adult seems like a temporary problem may well seem like the end of the world to a teenager.
Teenage suicide rates are hideous to look at: the only thing more hideous is the rate of suicide among gay and lesbian teens.
Stopping funding for 1-800-SUICIDE is criminal.
And why do they want to phase it out and roll it up?
Despite the fact that almost 2 million callers have reached help and hope over the last 8 years, and a government funded evaluation stating the benefits of 1-800-SUICIDE, the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a division of Health & Human Services, has decided to create their own government run system where they would have direct access to confidential data on individuals in crisis.
There’s a reason the suicide hotline is confidential. Do YOU turst the Bush Administration and its allies in Congress to protect YOUR personal information? I don’t: certainly not when I consider their role in promoting warrantless spyig on Americans.
Please go here: Save 1-800-SUICIDE for more information and action you can take.
h/t to somegirl for the info and Spindentist at All Spin Zone for publishing this.
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