Saturday, August 4, 2012

The Cross I Bear

This week a 25-year old pro football player named O. J. Murdock committed suicide. In February of this year the legendary Don Cornelius ended his life. Shakir Stewart, a 34-year old highly successful record executive took his life in 2008. In 2009 approximately 2,084 African Americans committed suicide. 80% of them were men. I used to think that people who killed themselves were folks who gave up on life, thinking that life will never get better.  But now I have a different opinion for why a person decides suicide is their only option.  It’s pain. And the most lethal “pain medicine” is death. Once a person is in so much pain – not physical but emotional – they will do anything to stop the agony. Its not that they have given up hope, its that they hope death will end the anguish. How do I know this? Because in 2009 I set a date to be number 2,085.  That’s when I knew I had to tackle my depression or die.

To be continued ...  


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