Flame Think

During medieval times, it was considered an unmentionable evil and disqualified an individual from being buried in sacred soil. Law and popular practice sanctioned the desecration of the corpse. The body (decapitated and with the heart removed) would some times be buried in the center of an intersection; a supposed remedy to quiet the wayward, ambivalent, haunted and wandering spirit. Likewise it was deemed appropriate to confiscate the decease’s property for having died in such a way.

It was not until the latter nineteenth and twentieth centuries that this unpopular issue was seriously reconsidered as an illness instead of a curse. Yet the stigmatism of even mentioning it in public causes the topic to remain taboo to this day.
  Until recently in the United States, it was usually the eighth leading cause of death among people between the ages of 9 to 49; however, it has slowly crept up. It was the number three cause of death in the Dallas - Fort Worth, TX region in 2009 and thus far in 2010, it is number one.

Let me challenge you to look yourself in the mirror. Say the word ‘suicide’ out loud. Shout it if you dare. You may be uncomfortable saying it, but I promise you will not undergo some metamorphous transformation. There will be no fangs protruding from your lips, no jagged nails on your fingers, no slumped shoulder, no blood shot eyes, and no pathetic growth of hide or hair. There will only be the reflection of an individual who has taken the first step in learning to speak and hear the word.

If we cannot learn to get past the taboo of hearing about suicide, we can never come to the point where we can build a stronger ‘suicide awareness’ community.  It isn’t necessary for us to change our opinion about suicide, but it is imperative we learn to listen to the persons at risk who need to speak about it.

For more articles on this subject visit: www.flamethink.com and search under Crisis Issues.