[Music]
do we have the right to commit suicide
according to the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention 121 people die every
day due to suicide that’s five people
every 60 minutes and Counting
47 years ago at the age of 18 30 days
before departing to United States Navy a
mother suddenly admitted to her son your
uncle Harold is not your real uncle he’s
your father
needless to say feelings of intense
anger bitterness and resentment welled
up in him
so he asked why wait 18 years to tell me
this now because she replied why not
you’re old enough now to understand that
young man with a very bright future was
me how many of you know sometimes life
can make a decision for you I see your
hands and sometimes that decision can be
so crushing it can leave a deep dark
void in your life and even alter your
reality I was anxious to leave and join
the Navy you see I thought running away
from my pain were lessening or perhaps
make it go away but I spent two and a
half years in the Navy dealing with my
confusion anger betrayal and yes
depression I desperately tried to
suppress my unhappiness with drugs and
alcohol I even tried to hire my own lack
of identity trust and purpose of reality
I even harbored feelings
of unforgiveness towards my biological
mother and father there could not be
abated it just wouldn’t go away and when
I received my honorable discharge I
returned home to Dallas but the truth of
my birth had out of my reality and I
struggled to try to find my place in
that reality have you ever felt so
depleted by life you even had thoughts
of suicide someway somehow I was still
able to function just enough to find a
job with United States Postal Service
but the gnawing pain continued to eat
away any happiness I found I was married
for only two years and although I
remarried again and it lasted over 30
years it too became unstable due to
emotional turmoil the lack of trust
communication commitment and compromise
due to my wife and I compulsive spending
consequently we experienced foreclosed
homes and bankruptcy we began to shut
down mentally physically and emotionally
we were your typical dysfunctional
family not only us as parents but also
our children you see my son decided to
run away from home when Dane dropped out
of high school he became homeless and
made choices that ended up in jail time
years later he and his wife got into
more serious trouble with the law and he
was sentenced twenty-five years in
prison and she was sentenced 15 years in
prison she had a mental breakdown and
tried to commit suicide to keep him
going to prison and yet while she was
still in prison her only child at the
sweet age of 23 that had been dinner
with her precious ever since she was a
child committed suicide by hanging
herself and leaving a one-year-old
beautiful daughter behind
I literally had no more to give life had
become unbearable and I really felt no
reason to exist how many of you today
know someone is dealing with depression
and anxiety I see your hands
Wow Wow have you ever known anyone to
commit suicide perhaps that person is
you or your mother or your father
or even your child but it’s physical
suicide the only answer I’m here to tell
you there’s life even after physical
suicide and to let you know I promote a
different type of suicide and I’m
referring to social suicide here are
three things I challenge you to do
commit social suicide
against relationship pressure don’t stay
in a toxic relationship commit social
suicide against economic pressure follow
your passion
more than money should be your prod
commit social suicide against peer
pressure spend time with people who will
respect your decision and won’t put
unfair pressure on you to conform I
invite you to elevate yourself to a
higher consciousness but still maintain
integrity honesty and compassion for
yourself and others find something good
and every person plant a seed of
encouragement and unconditional love in
your children your family and others in
your spirit of influence most
importantly learn to appreciate and love
yourself
I committed social suicide I died to
social pressure I died to social
economic pressure I died to social
relationship pressure I died to social
negative labels
of Who I am in what I can become because
I found my passion and my purpose and
I’m here to tell you there is life after
suicide
[Applause]
[Music]
do we have the right to commit suicide
according to the American Foundation for
Suicide Prevention 121 people die every
day due to suicide that’s five people
every 60 minutes and Counting
47 years ago at the age of 18 30 days
before departing to United States Navy a
mother suddenly admitted to her son your
uncle Harold is not your real uncle he’s
your father
needless to say feelings of intense
anger bitterness and resentment welled
up in him
so he asked why wait 18 years to tell me
this now because she replied why not
you’re old enough now to understand that
young man with a very bright future was
me how many of you know sometimes life
can make a decision for you I see your
hands and sometimes that decision can be
so crushing it can leave a deep dark
void in your life and even alter your
reality I was anxious to leave and join
the Navy you see I thought running away
from my pain were lessening or perhaps
make it go away but I spent two and a
half years in the Navy dealing with my
confusion anger betrayal and yes
depression I desperately tried to
suppress my unhappiness with drugs and
alcohol I even tried to hire my own lack
of identity trust and purpose of reality
I even harbored feelings
of unforgiveness towards my biological
mother and father there could not be
abated it just wouldn’t go away and when
I received my honorable discharge I
returned home to Dallas but the truth of
my birth had out of my reality and I
struggled to try to find my place in
that reality have you ever felt so
depleted by life you even had thoughts
of suicide someway somehow I was still
able to function just enough to find a
job with United States Postal Service
but the gnawing pain continued to eat
away any happiness I found I was married
for only two years and although I
remarried again and it lasted over 30
years it too became unstable due to
emotional turmoil the lack of trust
communication commitment and compromise
due to my wife and I compulsive spending
consequently we experienced foreclosed
homes and bankruptcy we began to shut
down mentally physically and emotionally
we were your typical dysfunctional
family not only us as parents but also
our children you see my son decided to
run away from home when Dane dropped out
of high school he became homeless and
made choices that ended up in jail time
years later he and his wife got into
more serious trouble with the law and he
was sentenced twenty-five years in
prison and she was sentenced 15 years in
prison she had a mental breakdown and
tried to commit suicide to keep him
going to prison and yet while she was
still in prison her only child at the
sweet age of 23 that had been dinner
with her precious ever since she was a
child committed suicide by hanging
herself and leaving a one-year-old
beautiful daughter behind
I literally had no more to give life had
become unbearable and I really felt no
reason to exist how many of you today
know someone is dealing with depression
and anxiety I see your hands
Wow Wow have you ever known anyone to
commit suicide perhaps that person is
you or your mother or your father
or even your child but it’s physical
suicide the only answer I’m here to tell
you there’s life even after physical
suicide and to let you know I promote a
different type of suicide and I’m
referring to social suicide here are
three things I challenge you to do
commit social suicide
against relationship pressure don’t stay
in a toxic relationship commit social
suicide against economic pressure follow
your passion
more than money should be your prod
commit social suicide against peer
pressure spend time with people who will
respect your decision and won’t put
unfair pressure on you to conform I
invite you to elevate yourself to a
higher consciousness but still maintain
integrity honesty and compassion for
yourself and others find something good
and every person plant a seed of
encouragement and unconditional love in
your children your family and others in
your spirit of influence most
importantly learn to appreciate and love
yourself
I committed social suicide I died to
social pressure I died to social
economic pressure I died to social
relationship pressure I died to social
negative labels
of Who I am in what I can become because
I found my passion and my purpose and
I’m here to tell you there is life after
suicide
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: