As happens every time someone kills themselves and theres a big discussion about suicide/depression, Im reflecting on how sad we are AFTER someone kills themselves, but how busy we are, too busy to take care of each other before it gets to that point. We know hotlines have no funding, support groups are not always friendly to queer people/trans people/people of colour, hospitals are traumatising and expensive, yet we lean on them to take care of people we supposedly love. I dont understand. I mean, on the one hand, I know we all have lives, and were busy, and overwhelmed. But then shouldnt we understand why people decide to end it, if life is too fast and too impersonal for us to take care of each other? I just dont understand how people are surprised when others kill themselves, when the only times we seem to care about others is in crisis. Please- you know people who are depressed. Be there not only in times of trauma, but in times of dull pain, too. Thats REALLY important. I know living an hour away from most of my friends makes this incredibly hard for me to live up to myself, but I do what I can to be available. Im almost ALWAYS available to chat online. Ill skype with you. Maybe itll be an hour, maybe 5 minutes, but Ill make time. If you really genuinely consider yourself my friend, Im asking you to make time for me, too, not just when Im so overwhelmed I want to kill myself, but day-to-day. If Ive tried to make plans with you a couple of times, set plans up, next time. Show me you give a shit. Ill do the same. For the rest of you? Ill set you all a challenge. I bet you know someone depressed, or socially anxious. Make plans with them. Reschedule a few times. BE THERE. Its often difficult. Its heart wrenching. It can be tiring. But this radical self reliance shit is killing people and we need to care BEFORE theyre dead, not wring our hands after its happened. kittystryker/2014/05/radical-self-reliance-is-killing-people/
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 23:53:21 +0000
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