A couple of years ago my husband and I were called to the hospital late one night. A young man who had attended our church with his wife and four young children sporadically for a year or so had committed suicide. His wife was in the emergency room in shock, and had asked someone there to call us.

I'll never forget what that grieving widow said to me.

"How could he be so selfish?"

I had never thought of suicide as selfishness, but she was right. He was so consumed with himself he lost all perspective on living.

The holiday season can be a time of great joy as well as great sorrow. For those whose loved ones have died during the preceding year, the first Christmas, birthday, or anniversary without that person can be excruciating. Money troubles, addiction, fear of the future, and so forth, can all drive a person inside themselves, until they're in so deep they can't see a way out. That's when the insidious whisper of evil chimes in, telling them the only way out is to die at their own hand.

Kathy Carlton Willis shared the following link with fellow bloggers and asked us to pass it on. I'm doing so in the hope that the information will find its way to those who need to see it. Perhaps if that young man had run across these words, he might still be here to hug his children and kiss his wife.

Suicide is not the answer to any problem, no matter how great. It's just the beginning of a whole new set of trouble for everyone involved.


Suicide Help