Being exposed to suicide doesn't make it any easier to understand.
I lost my brother to suicide. It will be five years now this Thanksgiving that he took his life. He left behind a 20 year old daughter, a grandson, both parents and two brothers. Like Ralph he was going through a troubled time.
I think an important message suicide carries......and likely a lot of victims don't realize at the time, is that they are saying is the life they share with their families and friends is not valuable enough to tip the scales to the side of wanting to live.
I've been through the hurt, and then the anger, and now I'm at peace with my brothers choice. I do wish he had decided to hang around so we could all grow old together.
My parents, my now 25 year old neice and her 6 year old son seem to be doing fine but if the converstion ever drifts to anything about my brother it becomes a very painful time.
My neice is scared for life.
I think of Ralph's children and their lives being scared by their fathers suicide for the next 70 or 80 years. It's a very selfish act. |