So I recently came upon a picture on my newsfeed that said these words. I have had a problem with people putting these two words together for a while now. More than a blog post, this is going to be a rant. This is to raise awareness. Maybe there won't be anything encouraging, or cool, or helpful here, but I think this is something that needs to be addressed.
Oftentimes we say this as a joke, I have said these words before in a joking manner, and I was so so wrong to do so. Why do we think that this is a joke? I remember reading a tweet once, from one of our twitter kids, that read:
"Kill yourself"
I just might
It broke my heart. It changed my whole perspective on this phrase. See we take this phrase so lightly, we say it if someone wears something weird, or if someone gets a stupid tattoo, we even say it if someone posts something that we think is annoying or stupid. But see, how many of these people hear or read those words and think that thought: I just might. Those words hit home for me. Because I know what it's like to be in that spot, I know what it feels like to think, "you know what, I just might kill myself tonight", and not only do I know it, but people I love very much also know it (but that's a topic for another time).
And they also hit home because I have said those words before, and I don't remember how many times or to whom but I so very dearly wish I could travel back in time and take those words back. But I can't. I can only take action with the time that is given to me now, and right now, I want to create a consciousness in our minds (myself included) that these words are NOT funny. I think we say these words because we don't realize what is the message they are sending. We say them as a joke, when in reality, it speaks of a topic that is not a joke at all. Simply put, I believe the message is this:
Suicide
When are we going to understand that this is not a funny topic? Let me give you an example.
Justin Bieber
After his arrest, I can't tell you how many posts I saw saying this about him and it ticked me off to no end. His actions were completely out of place, I agree, but he's being a stupid teenager like many of us are and have been. The only difference is that he's rich and famous. Maybe he's a bad person, maybe he's a good person. I don't know and I don't care. What I do know is that his life has value, and there are people that love him. Behind him stands a connection of family and friends that would miss him and cry for him.
See I think we see life in a weird way and I wonder if this is why we say what we say. If you're good you should live, if you're bad you should die. But that's not how life works. The reality is that death is going to come to us all, it doesn't matter whether you're rich, poor, nice, mean, a priest, or a killer, we are all bound to death. Death doesn't care about who you are, or who you've been. Just because someone does not follow the social norms, doesn't mean that they should seize to exist as a part of society. Just because someone is different, it doesn't give us the right to tell them to go die. And maybe the reason why we take these words so likely is because we have forgotten that every life has value, and every person has feelings.
The funny thing about words is that the beauty is found in the interpretation. One time, Faith blogged about the power of words and everything she said was absolutely perfect. I suggest you take a moment to read it after reading this. http://riseaboveitmissions.weebly.com/1/post/2013/10/the-power-of-words.html
So please, all I ask is that you take a moment to think about what you're about to say before you say it. And that you never use this phrase again, you could be saving a life by doing so.
Some jokes are just not meant to be funny. And sometimes words take more lives than wars.
~ Diana :)
Oftentimes we say this as a joke, I have said these words before in a joking manner, and I was so so wrong to do so. Why do we think that this is a joke? I remember reading a tweet once, from one of our twitter kids, that read:
"Kill yourself"
I just might
It broke my heart. It changed my whole perspective on this phrase. See we take this phrase so lightly, we say it if someone wears something weird, or if someone gets a stupid tattoo, we even say it if someone posts something that we think is annoying or stupid. But see, how many of these people hear or read those words and think that thought: I just might. Those words hit home for me. Because I know what it's like to be in that spot, I know what it feels like to think, "you know what, I just might kill myself tonight", and not only do I know it, but people I love very much also know it (but that's a topic for another time).
And they also hit home because I have said those words before, and I don't remember how many times or to whom but I so very dearly wish I could travel back in time and take those words back. But I can't. I can only take action with the time that is given to me now, and right now, I want to create a consciousness in our minds (myself included) that these words are NOT funny. I think we say these words because we don't realize what is the message they are sending. We say them as a joke, when in reality, it speaks of a topic that is not a joke at all. Simply put, I believe the message is this:
Suicide
When are we going to understand that this is not a funny topic? Let me give you an example.
Justin Bieber
After his arrest, I can't tell you how many posts I saw saying this about him and it ticked me off to no end. His actions were completely out of place, I agree, but he's being a stupid teenager like many of us are and have been. The only difference is that he's rich and famous. Maybe he's a bad person, maybe he's a good person. I don't know and I don't care. What I do know is that his life has value, and there are people that love him. Behind him stands a connection of family and friends that would miss him and cry for him.
See I think we see life in a weird way and I wonder if this is why we say what we say. If you're good you should live, if you're bad you should die. But that's not how life works. The reality is that death is going to come to us all, it doesn't matter whether you're rich, poor, nice, mean, a priest, or a killer, we are all bound to death. Death doesn't care about who you are, or who you've been. Just because someone does not follow the social norms, doesn't mean that they should seize to exist as a part of society. Just because someone is different, it doesn't give us the right to tell them to go die. And maybe the reason why we take these words so likely is because we have forgotten that every life has value, and every person has feelings.
The funny thing about words is that the beauty is found in the interpretation. One time, Faith blogged about the power of words and everything she said was absolutely perfect. I suggest you take a moment to read it after reading this. http://riseaboveitmissions.weebly.com/1/post/2013/10/the-power-of-words.html
So please, all I ask is that you take a moment to think about what you're about to say before you say it. And that you never use this phrase again, you could be saving a life by doing so.
Some jokes are just not meant to be funny. And sometimes words take more lives than wars.
~ Diana :)