IF YOU NEED HELP, PLEASE PHONE THESE NUMBERS:
988: Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (American based)
13 11 14: Lifeline Australia
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One of my close friends recently had
suicidal thoughts. When we see stuff like that online or on the news, it's serious. But I almost laughed at my friend after he said that, I honestly felt ashamed. At least I contained my honest thoughts on the issue, who knew if he was joking or not, he has always been a bit of a joker at times.
The real problem here was that he legitimately told teachers he had suicidal thoughts and
they all couldn't give a rat's ass. That's just concerning. When he first told me that, I just stood there trying to think what to say, I didn't want to trigger something that could make these so-called fantasies a reality. I witnessed a teacher ACTUALLY respond to my friend's comments on suicide by saying
"That's not very nice". I honestly felt like punching her.
At this point though, it all turned out to be a joke by my friend, he just openly told every teacher about this and you could just tell he was joking. He was happy with his life. But the fact the teachers couldn't take it seriously,
even though they suspected it to be a joke, is just wrong. Shouldn't they discipline him for being too open about false suicidal thoughts or in the real case, give him support?
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Things take a turn.
My friend was having a few rough weeks, he didn't turn up to school some days, and
he almost was killed by a car while riding his E-Scooter to school one day. This time, he told me
"I just want to kill myself, better than living in this **** world. I wish that car hit me the other day, fudge this ****." The thing is, my friend had a
Nationals Competition for cycling in 2 weeks, he put a bet on his life.
If he won gold in one of his events, he wouldn't kill himself. If he didn't win, he would, well, disappear from our lives. I shook on this, I made this deal real, I tried denying his cause, and he forced me to accept the fate, both desirable and forbidden.
Even if I said to him
"Mate, snap out of it, you need some help", he would still probably kill himself if he didn't win, everything was relying on a couple of bike races. He wasn't a very close friend, but
I've known this guy for like 10 years, 10 years! A loss is a loss, both in friendship, state of being and the race, the race that would decide his fate.
I kept up to date with his whereabouts,
he was competing in Brisbane (if you don't know, I live in Australia, specifically Melbourne in the state of Victoria). He had a few events, he qualified for the finals for all of them. His whole family had come to watch him, his older brother was also competing in the Open age group, winning an event. He had to ride for his life......
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.....I refreshed the results portal on my phone at the time of his race, looked for his event. His name popped up in first position. CHAMPION......
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I felt no happiness within me, I was proud of my mate, his family was full of great cyclists on the velodrome and sometimes road racing.
I still worried about his wellbeing, I wanted to see him home. At that moment, I started really caring for him, almost as if he was my best friend even though he wasn't. He was just a friend of 10 years, a friend that could possibly take his own life. "
We shook on it, it has to be real, he will be fine..."
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He returned back home to Melbourne a few days later,
he was elated. Not that he won gold at Nationals,
but he actually lost his virginity! He was and still is 16 years old. He ended up doing it with a
female cyclist he met in Brisbane, it was just for fun, they're likely to never see each other again. He described every moment of it. I was proud of him. Proud in many ways. I didn't listen to the way he did this and did that (you mature people know what I mean),
but I watched how he acted and spoke. He was happy. Not that he had sex, but his life was back together. He started participating in class more. It was all I wanted to see. A happy ending...
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To this day a month or two later,
I still wonder if he was joking about suicide the second time, part of me thinks he wasn't. But tbh, none of that should matter,
more should be done about the matter. 132 people worldwide take their own life each day. In most cases, it is avoidable. Although we don't fully understand what goes on inside someone's head, just ask them if they're ok. Give them support, and be proactive, we can't let people slip away no matter their motives.
Don't ignore how real this is, it could happen to anyone you know, don't laugh about it no matter the context.
We're all human beings, we must provide help to those doing it tough,
as there are infinitely more ways to contribute to suicidal thoughts than methods to kill yourself. Let's narrow that down and be there for people. Most importantly, advertise the issue more so we can directly reach the root of the problem before someone questions their point of living and give them an awareness of their troubles.
Life should be worth living, no matter the factors contributing to suicidal thoughts. Everyone should live purely, free of self-trauma and negative society.
Ask, keep them safe, be there, help them connect, stay connected, provide awareness
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TPlacella
2/5/2023Click to expand...