This morning I learned a young acquaintance of ours ended his life this week. Stunned, I stood in silence, images of the man and our dealings with him reeling through my thoughts like a movie.
Cheerful. Giving. Resourceful. Three descriptions that come to mind when I think of him.
As my neighbor and I walked our morning trail, she said, “Don’t people realize the blues pass?”
“But depression isn’t just feeling down,” I said. “It’s more all-encompassing. I know because my uncle suffered it all of his life.”
Memories of his battle floated to the present. I knew he took pills which gave him side effects that weren’t pleasant. So he got off the pills and would be all right for a while until he slid into the depths of misery again.
“And what about his mother? Didn’t he think of her? She had to find him,” said my neighbor of the young man’s suicide.
I nodded. “But he wasn’t thinking about her, he was so inside his own pain and grief.”
It’s another one of those what if stories. What if you could have stopped him in time? What if you hadn’t left?
Modern medicine has come so far . . . and yet it hasn’t.
Writing Prompts:
1. Writing can be cathartic. Is there a memory you have been suppressing? Writing about an emotional pain may bring relief. Try it and see if it can help you.
2. Write a poem, song, essay or story in honor of someone you know who has faced a battle – - either emotional or physical. What do you admire about this person? Why?
3. Create a piece of art expressing a mood you are in right now. You choose the form and style.
