God made people to love, and things to use. Not things to love and people to use.
I live by that.
To me, money and things come and go. Every THING is replaceable. People, on the other hand, are not. Have we become a society where money and things trump people? Are appearances so important that people are willing to take their lives because they no longer have the status they once had?
Recently, L’Wren Scott took her life. I don’t know why she did. What could possibly be so bad that life is no longer worth living. There are many people who think ending it all is the only answer. That is never the case, and I wish I could just speak to these people to let them know that suicide is never the right answer, no matter WHAT the question is. According to Radar Online L’Wren was having financial difficulties with her business, and didn’t want to ask her boyfriend, Mick Jagger, for help:
L’Wren Scott’s tragic suicide on Monday “shocked and “devastated” her Rolling Stones boyfriendMick Jagger, but the fashion designer was reportedly $6 million in debt and was“embarrassed”over her clothing empire crashing.
The 49-year-old canceled her London Fashion week show in January and her company, LS Fashion LTD, filed documents in the UK declaring that they were $5,899,548 in debt according toMail Online.
Prior to being found by her assistanthanged in her $5.6 million luxury NYC apartment, she also reportedly owed her creditors $7.641 million but always refused help from her rock star boyfriend, who is worth a reported $300 million and a source told them she was “embarrassed” by the financial crisis.
Loved ones don’t see you as a burden, and problems don’t last forever. This reminds me of a quote from Winston Churchill: ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’
The Courage to continue is what counts.
For anyone reading this post, please know that there is help for you. If you don’t have family or friends that you can talk to, there are many organizations out there that can help, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline being one. 1-800-suicide is a number that you can call.
Follow
Leslie Wimes
Latest posts by Leslie Wimes (see all)
- Hillsborough County Democratic Black Caucus Says “No Recommendation” To Lisa Montelione, HD 63! - October 29, 2016
- Chain Gang Charlie Is Back, Unfortunately For Black Folks In CD 13! - October 21, 2016
- Pam Keith, Racism Claims, And Debates - July 30, 2016
You make it sound so much more simple than it actually is. This blog reeks of judgement, naivete, and lack of life experience. Suicide is for the most part, a result of deep, severe depression and other mental illnesses. A person’s brain is sick. Chemically, it isn’t working right. As the mother of someone with a severe mental illness, I live with the constant shadow that the next time, I may not be able to talk my child from the edge. In this country, mental illness is incredibly difficult to deal with. We have closed down our mental institutions; people who can’t hold down a job due to their illness end up on the streets if they don’t have a strong (and financially sound) family to help them. It is not a matter of a person just giving up, losing hope because they lost their status, they are financially worried, they lost a boyfriend, etc. Oftentimes, they have nothing to be depressed about, but they are depressed anyway, because depression isn’t necessarily dependent on outward circumstances. Severe depression is a neurological disease that needs treatment and a strong support system. Suicide is the final symptom of a long and debilitating disease, and until we realize that, people are not going to get the help they need. Please grow up a little, and become a little better informed before deciding to comment on something that has such a deep and devastating impact on people.
I’m going to ignore your “grow up” comment, because clearly you have issues going on right now. My post is telling people that there are those that care and suicide is not the right answer. If that somehow offends you, then please re-evaluate YOURSELF.
Obviously the comment that people care and suicide isn’t the right answer does not offend me. If anything, it’s probably the only part of this blog that doesn’t. You write as someone who has never stood on the edge of the abyss with a loved one contemplating the jump with an eagerness, not understanding that if they jump they take you with them. This is a place I live in. Your question “What could possibly be so bad that life isn’t worth living,” and your implications that suicide is the result of people not being able to deal with bad circumstances, implies a lack of understanding that suicide isn’t about circumstances. Without directly saying so, you seem to make the case that suicide is the result of people placing things before people (you lay that out in your opening sentence), and that all it takes is a positive attitude. People who are suicidal can’t develop a positive attitude. They need help. They need treatment and support, not a pep talk. I apologize for the “grow up” remark, but I do think you shouldn’t be commenting on this issue since you obviously can’t address it in any meaningful way.
You have some anger issues that you need to deal with. I suggest you deal with those, rather than try to dictate what I should or shouldn’t write on my blog. Just because you have a loved one that has ” stood on the edge of the abyss” does not make you an expert on the subject anymore than me not having a loved one on the edge makes me a novice. Instead of coming here with attitude and anger, go be there for your loved one and I’ll pray for the both of you.
Um, actually, yes it does.
No, dear, it doesn’t. call a friend and talk to them. sounds like you need to. You seem stressed and tense.
And your question, “What could possibly be so bad that life is no longer worth living,” is offensive. Because it has nothing to do with a person’s circumstances. Their brain is sick. And one reason people don’t get the help they need is because of attitudes such as yours, the implication that all a person needs is a positive attitude. I’m sorry, but I really want to yell at you right now.
Please stop trying to be sanctimonious. That is a legitimate question, whether you like it or not. The fact that you got “all a person needs is a positive attitude” out of that question makes me think that you are just looking for a fight with someone. I stand by my question, and I stand by my position that suicide is not the answer.
Additionally, if someone having a point of view different from yours causes you to want to “yell” at them, perhaps YOU need to go talk to someone. There is help for that as well.
Ah, yes, the old “you are offended because someone has a different opinion than you” remark. I don’t have a different opinion than you. I have a different experience than you, and that experience informs my knowledge, not my opinion. If you feel that I am being sanctimonious, know that that is how I read your blog. Do you not ever want to yell at someone because you know they are speaking about something deadly serious that they know nothing about? Does that mean you need help? However, I do indeed recognize my own need for support in my circumstances, and am attending group therapy for people like myself, who must deal with loved ones who are suicidal as a result of deep depression. You must have no idea how heart-wrenching and full of anxiety each day is; how each phone call is greeted with a sick feeling in my gut, from wondering if I am going to have to go to the ER again, or if I am going to have to talk her down again. And I am happy you don’t live with this. I wouldn’t wish this kind of existence on anyone. But you have to understand that when people like me read your blog, it hurts, because it is painfully obvious that you don’t have a clue.
So that tells me you have heard it before. That means I’m not the only person who has told you that. If you are in group therapy, call a group member or sponsor or whatever it is you have, because you need to talk to someone. You are close to sounding like a narcissist,making everything about you and your experience. You are trying to take your anxiety out on someone who has nothing to do with your situation. The fact that you clearly don’t like my blog, and yet can’t just keep it moving is a problem. I don’t tend to go places I don’t like. Look at yourself. I really hope you AND your loved one gets the help you need.
This is the situation. You read an article about someone who committed suicide. You developed an opinion, which you stated, based on the news story, and how sad it is that someone would do something like that. As someone who has a very personal stake in the topic of suicide, I responded, badly, I admit. But can you not see that your opinions, as stated, could be hurtful to people who actually have to live with this kind of thing in their life? And that your responses to my pain were dismissive, to put it kindly? Your comment that my experience doesn’t make me an expert any more than your inexperience makes you a novice–well, almost any experience makes a person who has experienced it more of an expert, while zero experience, no matter what the topic, almost always makes the inexperienced person a novice. That is just a truth of life no matter what the topic is. If you go into a college classroom, and your professor tries to explain something to you, something about which they have great experience, but you have none, are you going to say to them, that their experience doesn’t make them any more of an expert than your inexperience makes you a novice? They would laugh you out of the classroom! Please–I’m asking you to please put yourself in the position of me or someone like me, and then try to understand why there might be some anger at the somewhat flippant way you treated this topic. Yes, I reacted badly. But that doesn’t mean that my points aren’t valid.
Dear, one can be an expert on a subject without ever having experienced that subject. Not all orthopedic surgeons have had broken bones, but they can sure fix them. People who have had broken bones more than likely couldn’t fix them. Do you get my point? What you did was come here and insert your own experience into something that did not have anything to do with you, and made it ALL about you. I get that you are in pain, but that does not give you the right to try to inflict said pain on others. Your experience doesn’t make you an expert. It simply makes you a person who has had an experience. Nothing more, nothing less.
And I am heartily ashamed of myself for allowing myself to engage in this. I am withdrawing, with my sincere apologies for drawing you into a pissing match. Please have a wonderful life.
I wouldn’t say that you need to be ashamed of yourself. I think your situation is a heavy burden, and, based on what you have said, is causing you stress. That happens to everyone at some point, and is nothing to be ashamed about. Just don’t let the stress get the best of you, and cause you to lash out unnecessarily. Good luck.