"Where there is life, there is hope." -Cicero
"Jesus wept." -John 11:35
Two statistics have transformed my life. First, suicide is the third highest cause of death of teens in America. Second, the number is rising.
Ever since I've been able to articulate what I wanted to do with my life, I've known that I was called to student ministry. Middle and high school students simply fill my heart with joy. But it is hard work.
It's also painful work. In my time working with teenagers (my short time, in the grand scheme of it all) I've had to comfort middle and high school students who have lost dear friends to self-inflicted wounds. I've had to visit students in therapy facilities after their own attempts. I've had the honor and privilege of sharing life with students whose scars (visible and otherwise) tell a story of pain and recovery mine will never tell.
And it's getting harder. My heart is aching more by the day. We have to do better.
Suicide is not a new phenomenon. I'm not naive enough to imagine that this is a new invention of human beings in the millennial age. But something is happening. The numbers, particularly among teenagers, are not going down.
Studies upon studies are being done to try to understand this uptick and this trend. The causes are vast and no two stories are the same. Depression is often involved. Mental health is always a contributor. Broken family systems and peer networks can play a role. Loneliness and isolation are agents of pain.
But we have to do better, because we are losing a generation of teenagers whose lights will not shine on us in the future. Our world is losing the gifts, the joys, the irreplaceable beauty of stars blown out before their time. The task of ushering in a generation behind us has always been the highest obligation of our world. So again I say, we have to do better. God calls and demands us to something better!
We've got to start seeing our neighbors as family, and that starts with knowing their names. We have to remember kinship and community.
We've got to put down the screens and see people. We have to start talking and stop typing.
We've got to realize that people aren't simply this or simply that. We have to realize that they are as complicated as we are, and that that's ok.
We've got to find a purpose beyond bank accounts and opportunity. We have to claim a mission with a purpose to change and build up.
We've got to remember that being right is rarely important as being there. We have to acknowledge that right positions don't get us anywhere if we're standing in the wrong place.
We've got to learn that failure is not the enemy, but rather a tool for growing and learning. We have to encourage risks and help teach when we fall.
We've got to invest in people and not profits. We have to see the potential in others and help them unlock who they were made to be.
We've got to expect something of ourselves and others more than the passing of days. We have to see who we can become.
We've got to see ourselves as a we and not simply a me and you and us and them. We have to cultivate a shared responsibility to our world.
We've got to see that there is hope in the world. We have to remind ourselves that even in the darkest moments, there is always a glimmer of light.
And more than anything, we've got to remember love above all else. We have to re-capture the duty and gift of love, a love that is not simply fleeting and flighty, but steeped in a sacrificial responsibility to each other. We have to remember that love gives everything for another.
We're losing something every day. There are countless reasons for this loss. But the countless reasons are not a reason to give up. They are a reason to dive in. I don't know what better means just yet, but I know we've got to find a place to start. We've got to do our part to make the world into more of the kind of place God created it to be. May our tears be the catalyst to better.
forever unfinished...
