Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:
I'm ready for the weekend to begin, how about you? On Thursday, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off writing presentations and putting out corporate "fires" that in the grand scheme of things are really not emergencies at all.
By mid-afternoon, I finally came up for air - and a chicken salad sandwich. I turned on the local news and there was a press conference about a 12 year old girl in nearby Lakeland, Florida who appears to have committed suicide by jumping off a building. Investigators claim that over a year of bullying appears to be cause behind the apparent suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day was just the other day -September 10. My Twitter feed had been full of messages about how to read the signs and how to help people who are contemplating suicide. And now barely 2 days later, my local news is talking about a suicide of a child. Twelve years old.
I remember seeing my first arena rock concert at age 12 and feeling so grown up. But twelve years is a blink of an eye. Today is my 8th anniversary working at my place of employment - my longest job with the same company. And even that seems to have gone by so quickly. So to think of a twelve year old looking down from the roof of a building and feeling like death was her only solution. I mourn for the situation as well as the loss of a life barely led.
In addition to bullying - cyber and in person, many children and young adults are faced with "adult" situations. I was first offered marijuana when I was nine years old. Although I came from a drug and alcohol free home, growing up in low income housing there were many addicts in my neighborhood. I remember thinking to myself way back then "I am nine years old, I can't smoke pot! What would be next?" I didn't want to turn into the strung out people with dead eyes that I saw every day on my way to and from elementary school.
I consider myself lucky that I made that choice so many years ago. But I had friends that were not as fortunate in their childhood. If you're a regular reader of LilyOnTheLam.com, you may remember that I wrote a post about actress Kristen Johnston's book "GUTS" - an amazing book about life, humor and addiction that should be mandatory reading for all young adults. It should be given to you with your driver license application. It should then also be given to you again freshman year of college. And then in your mid-20's when you're torn between being an adult and still wanting to party. And then in your 30's ... I could go on and on and on ...
Kristen Johnston has teamed with SLAM (Sober Learning and Motivation) to raise funds to build New York's first sober high school via GUTS t-shirt sales. You can purchase GUTS t-shirts here.
I feel sorrow for the young girl who apparently took her life today and for the pain her family is going through - but feeling sad doesn't help change what happened or prevent bullying. However I do feel like my contributing money (via a t-shirt purchase) to SLAM is "doing something" to help children and young adults. I read a great post by Veronica Valli entitled "Why We Need Sober High Schools."
There are many things people can do to help children and young adults - communication, volunteering, contributing to organizations who help -- whether you have children or not, there is always something individuals can do to make things better. I hope more people take up the cause and I hope less children see their only escape through suicide, drugs or alcohol.
Resources:
Suicide Prevention Services: Crisis Center of Tampa Bay
Anti-Bullying:
Anti Bullying Network
I'm ready for the weekend to begin, how about you? On Thursday, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off writing presentations and putting out corporate "fires" that in the grand scheme of things are really not emergencies at all.
By mid-afternoon, I finally came up for air - and a chicken salad sandwich. I turned on the local news and there was a press conference about a 12 year old girl in nearby Lakeland, Florida who appears to have committed suicide by jumping off a building. Investigators claim that over a year of bullying appears to be cause behind the apparent suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day was just the other day -September 10. My Twitter feed had been full of messages about how to read the signs and how to help people who are contemplating suicide. And now barely 2 days later, my local news is talking about a suicide of a child. Twelve years old.
I remember seeing my first arena rock concert at age 12 and feeling so grown up. But twelve years is a blink of an eye. Today is my 8th anniversary working at my place of employment - my longest job with the same company. And even that seems to have gone by so quickly. So to think of a twelve year old looking down from the roof of a building and feeling like death was her only solution. I mourn for the situation as well as the loss of a life barely led.
In addition to bullying - cyber and in person, many children and young adults are faced with "adult" situations. I was first offered marijuana when I was nine years old. Although I came from a drug and alcohol free home, growing up in low income housing there were many addicts in my neighborhood. I remember thinking to myself way back then "I am nine years old, I can't smoke pot! What would be next?" I didn't want to turn into the strung out people with dead eyes that I saw every day on my way to and from elementary school.
I consider myself lucky that I made that choice so many years ago. But I had friends that were not as fortunate in their childhood. If you're a regular reader of LilyOnTheLam.com, you may remember that I wrote a post about actress Kristen Johnston's book "GUTS" - an amazing book about life, humor and addiction that should be mandatory reading for all young adults. It should be given to you with your driver license application. It should then also be given to you again freshman year of college. And then in your mid-20's when you're torn between being an adult and still wanting to party. And then in your 30's ... I could go on and on and on ...
Kristen Johnston has teamed with SLAM (Sober Learning and Motivation) to raise funds to build New York's first sober high school via GUTS t-shirt sales. You can purchase GUTS t-shirts here.
I feel sorrow for the young girl who apparently took her life today and for the pain her family is going through - but feeling sad doesn't help change what happened or prevent bullying. However I do feel like my contributing money (via a t-shirt purchase) to SLAM is "doing something" to help children and young adults. I read a great post by Veronica Valli entitled "Why We Need Sober High Schools."
There are many things people can do to help children and young adults - communication, volunteering, contributing to organizations who help -- whether you have children or not, there is always something individuals can do to make things better. I hope more people take up the cause and I hope less children see their only escape through suicide, drugs or alcohol.
Resources:
Suicide Prevention Services: Crisis Center of Tampa Bay
Anti-Bullying:
Anti Bullying Network
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