Transcript
Youth Suicide “We all have dispositions and personalities and we seem to have innate tendencies either toward seeing more of the bright side or more of the dark side.”* As in youth suicides or any suicide, this person sees more of the dark side of their life. It overruns them, consumes their very existence. With any suicide, young or old, losing that person is a major loss. As with drugs and alcohol, we are slowly committing suicide but at a snail’s pace. We also see the dark side of life. The only difference is, we are taking the long way of suicide, the most painful. We are by choice deciding to prolong our suffering. As with youth suicides, they decided that death was their only way out. It was their answer to their need for comfort. The sad reality that comes with any suicide is the fact that there was something that happened in that person’s life so emotionally damaging it made them feel that death would be better than simply dealing with it. No person wakes up one morning and decides that suicide is their best option, especially a child. However, subconsciously without you knowing, those who rely on drugs and alcohol as their way of reducing their emotional suffering are making the choice to commit a slow, painful suicide. All drugs, whether legal or illegal, slowly destroy your vital organs inside your body that make living possible. These chemicals are poisons, regulated by the Federal Drug Administration, and any poison is a potential killer. This is the sole reason why these chemicals are regulated — not to protect the FDA but to protect you and your health. Decades ago the same illegal drugs —— from LSD, cocaine, heroin, to mushrooms — were legal to consume. That was until the FDA decided that these drugs (poisons) were hazardous to one’s health and needed to be regulated. When times get rough, which they always will, always remember that once you introduce the drug you’re addicted to into your body, you are taking the first steps in committing suicide. For years I struggled with suicide. All my attempts were failures. Failures because there was a reason that I needed to live. I had all the reasons in the world to justify committing suicide. For almost a decade now I have spent my prison time locked in a cell inside a isolation unit. *Statement made by author Allan Lokos in his book entitled Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living. 73 For those that don’t know the extent of what isolation consist, sit back and picture yourself locked in a concrete room 23 hours a day with only one hour out to walk around in a small cage. The only things you can have are books and writing materials. Over time, due to stagnation, your mind eats at itself. You will break mentally. The toughest of them do. You would be no exception. Even military men, trained in mental endurance when captured as POWS, often kept in a box, crash mentally. Suicide for me could have ended it all, made the emotional pain go away. All of my pain would have disappeared with one simple choice: suicide. Instead, I decided not to allow my emotional pain and the harsh situation I’m still in to overcome me. 1 instead began fighting back. You could also do the same. By your reading this article that’s specifically written for you, you have decided to fight back against your own suicide. “What we are is a result of our thoughts. What we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.” “In life, pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” You, as a person, can overcome the worst of any circumstance simply with a thought. Thoughts produce potential actions. Actions create opportunity. You have a chance to prevent your own path of self-destruction. People who decided that death was the only option, sadly do not have the opportunity you have at this moment. Run with this opportunity. Cherish it. Never let it go. Embrace it as long as it lasts. You mean something in this world. Look deep into yourself and find it. Don’t give up. Sincerely, Christopher Balmer Prisoner at SCI Forest ©2015 74
