Suicide is never the answer.

[Nicholas J. Covington]

Why are some parents and school kids so cruel? Why are some Christians so Unchristian like. I hate it when I lose a kid ... This world is so Cruel.

 

We lost a 14 y/o Crisis Center client this week who committed suicide, rather then continue to be beaten up at school, told he was garbage by his parents, and told that god hated him by his minister. He was one of the few people that called us using a real name and yesterday his name appeared in the obituaries he had been calling a couple times a week for the last couple months and he always seemed to be doing better after the call then before. He was just a poor kid that need to know some one cared. I guess if your told your trash enough and that god hates your eventually you begin to believe it.

 

No one should be allowed to think they are disposable. No one should have the people that are supposed to love them through them away.

 

I swear some of these people should be glad I can't get my hands on them.

 

This has been the beginning of a lousy week.

 

[Nephylim]

I can't say I disagree with anything you say there. It's always a tragedy when someone so young is hurt so badly they feel the only way out is the ultimate sacrifice.

 

Sometimes I think if only people can think sometimes of the effect their actions have on others... to care... to be honest about what they are doing.

 

It's crazy isn't it? We have to have a license to own a dog and if we mistreat them we get hauled off to court and fined. We don't need a license to have a child and if we treat them like shit then what do we get? A pat on the back by the members of our community who have 'told you that you should have kicked the little shit out years ago'.

 

Sometimes life sucks.

 

However.... You lost one kid. There is no doubt that this is tragic. But how many have you saved? It is always easier, when something like this happens, to focus on the negaitves and you don't get much more negative than teen suicide, but a crisis centre is always going to be a last resort. By the time people get to you they are already in crisis... and the fact that there are even some of them that survive and move on is a huge success story.

 

I sincerely hope that you continue to have more successes than failures and send my thoughts to the family and friends of those who don't make it.

[Nicholas J. Covington]

That is because Christianity is years behind P.E.T.A.

[Nephylim]

Christianity is years behind a lot of things... as are most if not all organised religions. There is a reason for that... people don't like change. Organised religion suffers most from this. People set the rules accordng to the society they live in... they are rules for living the life they live. People like the rules because if they follow them they don't have to think and make hard decisions for themselves. But the society moves on and everything changes. But they don't want to change the rules because the rules are set in stone (literally) so they try to fit the rules into the framework of the society they are now living in...and they won't fit. But they still cant bear to change them because they have to be right... because they work (ed... once) and then they get twisted and warped and the more the society around them changes the more the rules warp and warp those who try to cling to them. It's sad but true.

 

Of course there are adherents of many religions out there who do change. Either they change the rules or they change themselves and come to the sensible conclusion that they will follow them as far as possible and as far as they make sense but that they will follow the spirit of the rules rather than the letter so that when rules and conscience/society don't fit they can be ignored because that is what the spirit tells you to do... because the deep truth has nothng to do with petty rules and regulations or a collection of stories written from many different perspectives, by many people over a long period of time. The deep truth has everything do to with the way that people treat other people... with mercy, love, compassion and respect.

 

At the end of the day if those four things are not at the core of the belief then it is not a beleif I would want to give the time of day to.

 

 

[PrivateTim]

Why are some parents and school kids so cruel? Why are some Christians so Unchristian like. I hate it when I lose a kid ... This world is so Cruel.

 

We lost a 14 y/o Crisis Center client this week who committed suicide, rather then continue to be beaten up at school, told he was garbage by his parents, and told that god hated him by his minister. He was one of the few people that called us using a real name and yesterday his name appeared in the obituaries he had been calling a couple times a week for the last couple months and he always seemed to be doing better after the call then before. He was just a poor kid that need to know some one cared. I guess if your told your trash enough and that god hates your eventually you begin to believe it.

 

No one should be allowed to think they are disposable. No one should have the people that are supposed to love them through them away.

 

I swear some of these people should be glad I can't get my hands on them.

 

This has been the beginning of a lousy week.

Why not gather the facts of the case and do the next best thing, send all the information to media outlets, local and national. The bullying case of that Irish girl got good national attention and people are always screaming "for the children" let them see what the results are. There shouldn't be any more Prayers for Bobby made.

[Nicholas J. Covington]

Because while I can complain and vent in abstract. The facts of the case fall under privileged or confidentiality that goes hand in hand with a crisis center if we violate that trust people won't come to us and there are many more we can help.

[nightsky]

Because while I can complain and vent in abstract. The facts of the case fall under privileged or confidentiality that goes hand in hand with a crisis center if we violate that trust people won't come to us and there are many more we can help.

 

People can be so cruel and thoughtless. And those who contemplate suicide don't see it as a solution, they see it as the ONLY solution. What they often fail to think about, is that while it does meet their goal (most are just looking to end the pain), it is also FINAL.

 

I'm grateful that there are caring people like you volunteering. I've done hotline work before (Domestic Violence), and it is very difficult work. I hope your center has some sort of care for the volunteers (support group for secondary or vicarious trauma?) especially when you learn that one of the callers has committed suicide.

 

I'd like to remind you to please think of all the people you HAVE helped and saved. I hope thinking of them gives you strength to continue fighting the good fight!!

[Mark Arbour]

Because while I can complain and vent in abstract. The facts of the case fall under privileged or confidentiality that goes hand in hand with a crisis center if we violate that trust people won't come to us and there are many more we can help.

 

Well, your tag says "author," so why don't you write about it. Create a work of fiction that might mirror some of what happened. Tim's right: the written word is a powerful thing.

[Nicholas J. Covington]

I keep a journal, and do a lot of writing much of it I never publish/post as I write it for only me.

[Benji]

I keep a journal, and do a lot of writing much of it I never publish/post as I write it for only me.

 

...........Either way, Tim is right! Bringing the sad story to the front is another way of combating it. As unfortunate that is was to hear of Matthew Sheppard, if that had been hidden from the press to the people of this nation would the emotional response had a different impact? Injustices should always be proclaimed, keeping silent on it only brings back memories of societies lynchings of the past.

 

This young man's story will never be heard. Silence?

Edited May 21, 2010 by Benji

[warrior]

My heart goes out to him. poor kid.

 

But yeah, life is so cruel at times that you just don't feel like living. I'd a lot of suicidal thoughts during my primary school when my class-mates used to tease me, beat me up, called me sissy, etc, and I was having confusions with my sexuality. They destroyed all my confidence that I'd on me and this is one of the reason why I've such a low self-esteem, even now. Even now I feel like dying at times when I see that the future I dream of isn't there, isn't happening. What's the point of going on living your life if all you get back from life is pain and sufferings. And I have not even gone through half of what that kid did...I know suicide isn't the answer, but life can be so hard at times. When you loose all your self-respect and self-esteem and start considering yourself to be nothing but a worthless shit people think of commiting suicide.

[Riley Jericho]

Firstly - thanks Jacob for letting us know something of your work with young people. And you are right, you can't be seen to be breaking confidentiality. But how many people - young and old - end up getting caught between a rock and a hard place, between their sexuality and the expectations of family, society and religion, feeling that there is no solution other than just stop it all.

 

It's interesting that some of the hottest stories in the british soaps at the moment are to do with homosexuality. Even I'm watching Eastenders at the moment, and I hate soaps!! They have a young man caught between sexuality, family and religion. And what's quite interesting (and brave in the current climate of Islamic prejudice) is that the young man is a muslim. And if you thought that Christianity looked poorly on homosexuality, look again. I saw a comment on some other thread recently - a young man, probably living either in Africa or the Middle east wondering how he could survive in the closet. One person added to the thread disputing that, other than shame, there was nothing to lose. I'm afraid the reality is, that in most traditional Islamic societies you could lose your life. And if not that, definitely your freedom.

 

Is the Christian church any better? I was reading the BBC news online yesterday and watched the following report from Uganda:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8693560.stm

 

But, at the same time, I have this deep seated sense that this religious rhetoric has nothing to do with God - in fact he probably abhors it! i think we get into a lot of trouble in our religious institutions when we set up leaders whose job it is to get up on a regular basis and deliver the big idea. And often they do it because that's where they get their kicks and their energy. They play to the crowd and enjoy the popularity. But when it comes to knowing how to understand real people and help and love and support on a personal level, they're useless.

 

But they get on their podiums and delight in the fact that people will love them for it!

 

I'm still waiting for inspiration to see how it all comes together, but these things are part of the core (as those who have read the recent chapter will sense) of the parallel tale to English Teen - 'OLLY'

 

Any help in knowing how to write that would be great!

Riley

[Skylights]

Why are some parents and school kids so cruel? Why are some Christians so Unchristian like. I hate it when I lose a kid ... This world is so Cruel.

 

...O K

 

 

 

 

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We lost a 14 y/o Crisis Center client this week who committed suicide, rather then continue to be beaten up at school, told he was garbage by his parents, and told that god hated him by his minister. He was one of the few people that called us using a real name and yesterday his name appeared in the obituaries he had been calling a couple times a week for the last couple months and he always seemed to be doing better after the call then before.

 

That's terrible.