Suicide and the Reaction of a Fool


A young girl was going to commit suicide today.  I don’t even know her name, barely know where she lives – in fact, Google probably knows more about her than I do.  One thing Google doesn’t know though, it’s that she’s thinking suicide is the answer.

I read the urgent note from the pastor; he was asking for prayer on her behalf, and before I even got to the end of the note, I was asking him for an address.  After I asked that critical question I began to pray.  In reflection, my prayers were more focused on NOT getting an address, as I’m neither qualified nor bilingual enough to carry on this level of intervention.  One thing I can do in any language though is to sit and pray with someone.  I was on the verge of leaving work to go sit with a stranger and offer what?  At best, some hope - what sort of fool does this?  Who is willing to risk a good paying job and career with ample responsibility for the sake of a stranger's bad day?

I got a call an hour or so later informing me that the Police had been summoned and were at the house, not that it implied any level of success in defeating death but at least I didn’t have to worry that she was alone.  For now anyway things seemed secure but I can’t help think; what happens after they leave?  I know how the mental health system works.  I know how the mind works.  Those two items are in completely different rooms and the door between the two is sideways on the wall.  It’s confusing, lonely and unfamiliar – in any language.

I pray that I never hesitate to do what’s right for what’s prudent.  I guess this is what Paul implied when he mentioned that “he was a fool for Christ”.  I’ve learned that this world despises this particular kind of fool. We’re known a “saps” or “suckers”.  It seems that I’m this kind of fool, one who would risk everything for what seems to be nothing.  

On the other hand, I have a dear friend who once gave everything to save nothing.  Perhaps in [his] eyes, the fool is the wisest among them?

Comments

  1. Chris PutwenNovember 8, 2011 at 10:59 PM

    My 15 yr old daughter just lost a dear soccer teammate to suicide 2 weeks ago. Such a sad and tragic loss, and so hard to try and explain to her teammates who were like sisters to her. I wonder if any amount of prayer or discussion could have prevented this...or if it will in any way help those who are left to deal with her loss??? Her priest said it best at the service when he tried to explain her "sickness" and the fact that her death was no one's "fault". One can't help but wonder if we had only known the depths of her depression, could our prayers have done any good. I admire your faith and your unquestionablee quest to do what is right in order to help someone, even someone you don't know. I only wish that someone could have been able to help our dear friend Gina to know that she had other options in this life other than the one she chose. I am sure your prayers helped in some way even though you may not have known her personally. You are a good man.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kathy BruinsNovember 9, 2011 at 5:19 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kathy BruinsNovember 9, 2011 at 5:20 AM

    Being a fool for Christ is where it's at. Keep jumping out of the boat.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Watched a Loved One Die Today

I watched a loved one die today. It was nothing like in the movies, nothing like what I’ve read in novels.   It was neither glorious nor peaceful, exciting nor frightening, there was no opening of the heavens, loud voices or gaseous paranormal activity.   It was in fact, nothing.   She was there one moment and gone the next.   She went from a wonderful mother and dear friend to a stiff and lifeless form that had little visible resemblance to the person I’d known all these years. When I arrived, I could see her struggling for breath through a dark hole surrounded by taught, grey cheekbones and my first thought was “good thing I didn’t stop and get gas in the car first” .   The tragedy in that thought, as shallow as it is, lies in the fact that had I stopped, She’d have been gone before I keyed the debit number into the pump.   Trading gas for life – that’s how bizarre this all is. As I approached the bedside, I could only feel pain for my wife who has done everythin
Read more

Being Fed With Stone Soup

The quiet surgeon went on to explain how his life had gone from being the doctor to being the patient in a span of about 60 minutes.   One moment he’s a surgeon doing what he believed God had designed him to do, the next moment he’s looking at his own x-rays which reveal that he’s now a cancer victim with less than 3 years life expectancy.   Somehow, at the end of all this he was able to say “I thank God for the cancer”.   From that sobering testimony, the pastor turned to face a tent full of individuals who have their own sobering realities stuffed into bodies that are “imperfect” by conventional standards.   He was able to face them and with words that defy logic, speak how each developmental difference was in fact more special than different, more a gift than a curse.   That one set me back a bit.   The tent was alive with human movement but little of it would be welcomed as special in most of the world.   Jesus’s absurd metaphor came to mind, the one where he says “no loving
Read more

The Shock of a Pointed Finger

Again, I notice that it’s 2:30 in the morning.   No one is awake but me, likely no one is in tears but me, at least in this house.   Again, awake as the accusation rolls though my mind – the horrific mental image of my wife and I being thought of as abusive monsters. Given all her bruises, marks and cuts – we figured it was only a matter of time before someone again questioned the source of this entire trauma.   I recalled the first time we were called into question.   In the emergency room for her first massive seizure, the ambulance delivered her, the physicians examined her, and the staff questioned us.   It seemed so bizarre that we would have to explain to trained medical staff what “Mongolian Spot” was.   The bruises they were examining were typical congenital pigmentation found on most Asian children; so much for diversity. Bethany’s life has for many years been one of self-abuse and anyone who has ever spent time with her knows the physical impact on her body as well
Read more