Suicide Prevention, Twin Towers and Spreading Awareness

This week was filled with many memories and thoughts – some negative and some positive. Being that World Suicide Prevention Day was September 10th and the week in its entirety is National Suicide Prevention Week, many people were probably grieving lost ones and thinking about those who had been suicidal in the past. Many also grieved over lost loved ones who passed on September 11th when the towers fell.

This week has been a reminder that spreading awareness about beliefs close to your heart is important and necessary. It’s necessary because by speaking your thoughts, other people who agree with those thoughts will become supportive and jump on the train. Suicide is something that not only those who self-harm may struggle with, but something that many people with mental illness too struggle with.

On September 11th, many people made the choice to jump from the buildings instead of burning down with them. In truth, those individuals didn’t have a choice between life and death at that point. For those who are suicidal, you do have a choice and it’s important tomake the right one. By choosing life, you have the opportunity to move forward, conquer your demons and spread awareness to others about the issues you have fought and won over.

Those who self-harm don’t always feel suicidal. This is a stigma that many people instantly think when connecting both suicide and self-harm. Mental illness and the person themselves are the reason often behind suicide and suicide ideations. There truly isn’t any way to connect suicide to those who jumped on September 11th and I am not trying to say they were suicidal. I’m saying that they did not have a choice when it came to survival.

Others do have this choice and it’s important to make the right one.

Embrace Your Life and Speak Out

A month before the towers fell, I had been standing at the top of one of them looking down at a helicopter. I couldn’t believe how high up we were and even though it had been foggy, I was still in awe of the view. When the footage of the towers falling came out, I hadn’t been able to accept what I was seeing. Thousands of lives were being lost and people were risking their own lives to help others.

This had all occurred years before I began self-harming and before suicide played a factor in my life. However, if I had taken a moment to remember the view from the towers and the videos that had been rolling across my screen years prior, maybe I would have put some of my own frustrations into perspective. If it had been one month later that we had ventured to New York City, I might have been one of those people covered in soot or jumping from the windows.

That, in itself, is an extremely frightening thought.

We need to put ourselves in the shoes of those who suffered on that horrid September day and realize how lucky we truly are, even if we don’t believe our lives to be worth living. We also need to find ways to discuss the difficult topic of suicide prevention so that others can become more knowledgeable and continue to spread the word. The more people come together for a good cause, the more likely those struggling will have the support they need to move forward.

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