251- WHEN A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR DECIDES TO AND DOES END A SACRED LIFE......

a- Should the school administrator pretend that the suicideS didn't happen, when announcing it over the school P.A.?

b- When in high school myself, a friend in my church came up to my room at home one evening, and began to talk about wanting to end it all. His girlfriend had tol him to take a hike. I didn't have the experience, period, at that time to know what to do or say, BUT, did come up with the idea to get him to remember and laugh with me as I smilingly begin to talk about many of our shared silly escapades and adventures. Once three of us hitch a ride on a slowmoving freight train way out into the country and decided to get off, easily, and catch the next freight train back to town. And we did jump on the next one going back towards our town! However, we didn't reallize for a time that that freight train was going DOWNHILL to town and at a really fast clip. WE HAD TO JUMP OFF or wind up in Ohio. He jumped first and flipped on the side of the tracks. I jumped next and landed, PLOP, into the fine black gravel. And the third bud kept on going 'round the bend, literally (jumped later). Up in my attic room, my friend and I laughed and laughed at that adventure! I kept on bringing up more "stupid" things that we did in high school, TOGETHER.
It was dark outside, by then, and he decided to go on home to supper, smiling, to his family.

c- OK, what do YOU see that happened here?

d- Helping someone who is suicidal.....take it seriously, NO MATTER WHAT, but YOU have to pay attention to someone besides yourself!

e- Sucide hints are a cry for help!....pay attention.

f- Be willing to get involved!....to take the initiative to GET HELP sooner than later, after the fact! To care for someone else who is suicidal, the only goal is to REDUCE the PAin, not prolong or increase PAIN!

g- LISTEN...LISTEN...LISTEN! Listen to the person, to talk, no matter what! DON'T argue!....be PATIENT....SYMPATHETIC....CARING...they need to TRUST you!

h- Back to (a) above...NO!...that's exactly what an administrator did at a high school I'm familiar with, recently. But knowlegeable and caring professionals did come to the school the next day to quietly help with many students who cared! By the way, there was another suicide before this one.

i- Another example when first teaching: someone who lived in my now former neighborhood in another town came running down the street and pounded on my front door way past midnight. The guy was crying and saying that his father was drinking and waving a pistol around upstairs, and fired it into the floor, wanting to kill himself....."Please stop him...please."
Again, this guy had never experienced this behavior before but went up to the house...the family was crying and scared downstairs, begging me to help. I slowly walked up the steps to the father's bedroom. He was sitting on the side of the bed, having already shot into the floor. I sat down beside him, quietly reminding him who I was, a friend, and not to hurt me as his friend.
My "plan" was to listen to him "rant" about life being so unfair. I did ask him about his "sweetheart" (wife)...he smiled. Then I asked him about how they had met....he went into detail, laughing and smiling with me. After some time, I quietly told him that I was scared of guns, and could I set it aside...he handed it to me....TRUST. Then I asked him if I could invite his wife upstairs. She did and immediately shared a hug with him. I spent more time getting them to talk about their neat memories together, and they did....
I slipped away and downstairs, with the gun, and went home, unloaded it carefully and to tried to sleep...eventually sleep and peace did arrive. That's one of my many true stories and yam stickin' to it!!!!...ron rascal

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