Returning to class in
the fall of 2018, a new awareness of the need to talk of life and death
“Man’s search for meaning is the primary
motivation in his life and not a ‘secondary rationalization’ of instinctual
drives. This meaning is unique and
specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it
achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.”
Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl
Have you ever felt like nobody was there?
Have you felt forgotten in the middle of
nowhere?
Have you ever felt like you could disappear?
Like you could fall and no one would hear?
Well,
let that lonely feeling wash away
Maybe
there's a reason to believe you'll be okay
Cause
when you don't feel strong enough to stand
You
can reach, reach out your hand
“You Will Be Found,” From Dear Evan Hansen
“Netflix released ‘13
Reasons Why’ season 2 last
Friday — and the popular (and controversial) teen-suicide drama immediately
popped to the top spot among all U.S. digital original series, according to new
data…. ‘13 Reasons Why’ was the most popular show in the U.S. on a seven-day
average per-capita basis (from May 14-20) ….”[i]
Information
– “Talk to Someone” - https://13reasonswhy.info/
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
When the winds of changes shift
“Forever Young,” Bob Dylan
I imagine you too have found it unnerving to
encounter the stream of articles the past few months on the number of suicides
among our youth. (I list many in the sidebar, below.)
I
have argued recently that the mission of schools is to prepare students, above
all, for life, not for careers and the
workforce.[ii]
In this newsletter I speak of life
quite literally. Over death.
If I were teaching again this year, I would
find it impossible not to be thinking, more than ever, about the mental health
of my students. As teachers we keep the
overall well-being of the kids and teenagers in our classrooms front and center;
in some fashion every adult in the school building hopes we play a role in
helping our students gain “a strong foundation.” As we
begin the new school year it feels especially important to acknowledge the
emotional struggles of so many of our students, and to ask: what is our
responsibility?
Educators
cannot ignore that question, or the issue of teen suicide. We are putting our heads in the sand if we
do.
What
does this mean for a teacher? Are we supposed to be part counselor?
Psychiatrist? Minister, priest, rabbi,
imam?
Most
middle and high school teachers already feel burdened by so many
expectations—do a good job by 150 students, know them well, individualize,
personalize, and differentiate, etc. etc.
Is it also up to us to save them, body and soul? To be sure they choose life?
The
issue hit home over 35 years ago. I
had taught the senior and was friendly with his family; they lived up the
street. I drove to the hospital when I
heard of the attempted suicide. He was
in a coma when I got there. Hugs with
his frightened mom and dad. All of us
asking why.
He
survived – and when he walked across the stage that June to receive his
diploma, there were more than few tears of joy. Tragedy avoided.
Like
most, I know something of depression and dark thoughts. It did not take me
eight years to wander in and out of college, at times lost, before getting my
degree—because I was in great spirits.
And yet this topic is too vast, too great a mystery. I have no answers.
“Attention
must be paid” - from Death of a
Salesman
Perhaps
all I can hope to do here is convince you how important it is that we pay
attention. That we ask ourselves some hard questions.
What
follows is merely one educator’s belief, based in part on 18 years teaching
English, where the literature asked students to understand characters in
their search for meaning, and frequently invited discussions on death,
mortality, and suicide.
I
believe the classroom can be a place where—directly or indirectly—we explore the big questions. Including the one raised whenever suicide
appears: why choose life? Educators
who have read Man’s Search for Meaning,
by Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl, carry his message with us: the 9-year-old, the 13-year-old, perhaps
especially the 17-year-old—they are human beings eager to find meaning and
purpose. A reason to live. A school has a responsibility to help our
students on their journey to that goal.
(I doubt higher education would claim such a responsibility. See
Frankl on “the contemporary nihilism transmitted on many an academic campus”;
see also Allan Bloom on “the decay of the humanities” that has “left a void
in the soul.”[iii]
A topic for another time.)
I
believe that without pretending to be spiritual guides and staking claim to
have the answer to life’s fundamental why, K-12 educators can welcome the questions
and create opportunities for honest discussions that help our students in their
own sometimes anguished search.
The
English classroom – “To be or not to be…”
And
while not wishing to burden one department or one dimension of the curriculum
as the place for such discussions, I
believe the English classroom is the most natural setting where we can engage
our students in the big questions. Why?
Because it’s there in the literature we read together. I speak now of English
in its broader context–not just where skills are taught, but as part of the
humanities curriculum, where we read about characters and their quest to make
sense of the human experience—and where, let’s be honest, themes of
hopelessness and the possibility of choosing death over life appear time and
again.
This
former English teacher recalls passages about suicide in works considered
part of “the canon” of high school literature:
9th
grade – Romeo and Juliet, Night, The Catcher
in the Rye
10th
grade - Death of a Salesman, Antigone, Julius
Caesar
11th
grade – A Doll’s House, Hamlet (“To be or not to be…”)
12th
grade - King Lear (Gloucester
stumbling towards the Dover cliffs)
(You
might recall passages from three of them – see Addendum B.)
But
what, exactly, is a teacher to do? We
want to respect students’ awareness of this issue in their lives, in their
school and community; nevertheless, we hesitate, we give such scenes a light
touch—and fail to make the connections.
How far should we go? We are in
dangerous territory—well beyond our expertise. Who in our classroom carries a story of a
friend or family member who committed suicide? And do we know how such discussions might
be interpreted by the teenagers in our class in considerable pain? If not, should we even head down this road?
The
question, of course, goes well beyond the English classroom. Is it appropriate the ask middle and high
school students to confront the reality of suicide in America, in Colorado, and
to bring it home, for us here in our community?[iv]
And how? Should every administrator,
teacher, and staff member in the building—now the school resource officer
too—see it as our role to somehow “affirm life,” whatever that may mean?
I
think it is. And I believe the English
classroom can be a place where we welcome and support the very real search taking
place in the hearts and minds of our students. I believe it is part of our
responsibility to these young people.
They need a safe place for such discussions. And they need the assurance that we are not
deaf - that we are open to hearing of their fears for a friend … or of their
own confusion or dejection. Maybe we
can be a bridge and refer that boy or girl to those with the needed expertise
….
Furthermore,
I believe we have a responsibility to respect the literature and its
portrayal of the human condition. As
teachers we don’t want our students
to identify with 16-year-old Holden Caulfield confessing: “I felt so lonesome
all of a sudden. I almost wished I was
dead” (ch. 7). “What I really felt
like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window”
(ch. 14). And yet some will; for a few
guys and girls in our classes, such moments hit home. We do not serve them well—or the author, J.
D. Salinger—by skipping past such lines as “too dark.”
If
the novels, plays, and poetry we teach ask us to empathize with characters in
despair, the English classroom can help us do so, together.
It
is one way we as teachers can lend an ear … and extend a hand.
|
Quotes
from these 15 news articles follow in Addendum A.
|
“Suicidal
thoughts, vaping and low perception of risk among concerns for El Paso County
youth, survey finds,” The Gazette (Colorado Springs), by Debbie Kelly, July
26, 2018.
|
|
“We must work together to prevent
suicide,” Denver Post, by State
Legislator Dafna Michaelson Jenet, House District 30, June 28, 2018.
|
|
“Colorado Vet's
Death Offers Glimpse Into Suicidal Mind,” The Gazette,
by Stephanie Earls, June
23, 2018.
|
|
“Rates up in all but 1 state between 1999 and 2016,”
The Washington
Post, by Amy Ellis Nutt, June 7,
2018.
|
|
“NAMI looks ‘Below
the Surface’ to combat teen suicide,” The Colorado
Independent, by Faith
Miller, June 6, 2018.
|
|
“My Mother’s Suicide in Part of My
Story and It’s Helping Me Change the Lives of Students,” Education
Post, by LeeAndra Khan, CEO of Civitas Partners, June 6, 2018.
|
|
“Teens Are Cyberbullying Themselves. Why?”
Education
Week, by Sasha Jones, May 29, 2018.
|
|
“Greeley
high schools rocked by series of suicides,” The Greeley Tribune, by Tommy Wood, March 26, 2018.
|
|
“Four takeaways from a new report on the status of
Colorado’s children,” Chalkbeat Colorado, by Ann Schimke, March 22, 2018.
|
|
“Colorado kids doing better in many areas, but face
problems with suicide, school funding, infant mortality, report says,” Denver Post, by Monte Whaley, March 22, 2018.
|
|
“Middle School Suicides Reach
An All-Time High,” National Public Radio, by Elissa Nadworny, Nov. 4, 2016.
|
|
A FEW EFFORTS TO ADDRESS
TEEN SUICIDE |
|
“School grants to fight
suicide,” by Monte Whaley, Denver
Post, June 24, 2018.
|
|
“Colorado lawmakers
take one small step – but no more – to reduce youth suicide,” Chalkbeat Colorado, by Erica Meltzer, May 8, 2018.
|
|
“A Growth
Mindset Isn't Enough. It's Time for a Benefit Mindset.” Subtitle: “Could a focus
on altruism curb student suicide?”
Education Week, by Arina Bokas & Robert Ward, June
19, 2018.
Letter
to Editor – response by
Joseph W. Gauld, founder, Hyde School, July
17, 2018.
|
|
“How Teens Are
Helping Other Teens With Suicide Prevention,” 4 CBS Denver, by Jamie Leary, Sept. 25, 2017.
|
I quote from three articles that might
be of interest. The first two especially for English teachers, the third for
any educator. I am not endorsing any program here, just sharing a few ideas and
efforts.
“Dealing
with Suicide-Related Curriculum,”[v]
from the
Society for the Prevention of Suicide
From
classic Shakespearean literature to post-modern fiction, the theme of suicide
is woven throughout high school language arts and English assignments. It also
appears in history lessons, health classes, and psychology curricula and may be
impossible to avoid in the course of an academic year. Its inclusion
reflects its reality as a provocative and unsettling social concern.
[Included
at this site:] … suggestions that both reflect a teacher’s sensitivity to the
reality of ‘traumatic reminders’ as well as give students permission to
emotionally take care of themselves.
When
suicide appears in other course material, classroom discussion and assignments
could explore the reasons that suicide is an international public health
concern and the strategies that have been successfully employed to address
suicide rates. Students could be encouraged to create lists of
age-appropriate internet resources that address suicide awareness and
prevention or to develop suicide prevention resources for their peers.
An excellent resource that models this latter strategy can be found
on the website for the Washington state youth suicide prevention program- www.yspp.org.
“Literature
as Suicide Prevention,”[vi]
Orlando Sentinel, by Linda Shrieves,
Dec. 5, 1988.
Using examples such as ``Romeo and Juliet,``
Deats and a group of humanities professors from the university, working with
several psychotherapists, have come up with what appears to be an unlikely
method of preventing teenage suicides: having kids read and discuss literature
that focuses on suicide. They maintain that this approach will teach kids not
only the early warning signs of suicide but also that suicide isn`t a solution
to one`s problems….
What Lenker and her colleagues are hoping is
that someday high school students across the country will read such works as
Herman Melville`s ``Moby Dick,`` Sylvia Plath`s ``The Bell Jar,`` Shakespeare`s
``Hamlet,`` William Styron`s ``Lie Down in Darkness`` and Willa Cather`s
``Paul`s Case`` and then follow the reading with group discussions to analyze
the suicidal characters. Such discussions, the educators believe, might help
students openly talk about a subject that often is not discussed at home or at
school.
``This is not therapy for someone who`s
already in trouble,`` said Lenker, humanities coordinator of the university`s
Division of Lifelong Learning. ``We don`t say it`s a cure-all. Unfortunately
there are none. But we are trying to show two things. One, that teen suicide is
not a late 20th Century phenomenon; the other is that literature can be used as
a way to introduce a difficult subject and to start a nonthreatening
discussion.``
“Middle School Suicides Reach An All-Time High,”[vii] -National Public Radio, by Elissa Nadworny, Nov. 4, 2016
We've been reporting
about the role that schools and school staff play in addressing students'
mental health.
"Kids spend a lot
of time at school ... it's where they live their lives," says David Jobes,
who heads the Suicide Prevention Lab at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
"Suicide prevention has been focused on schools for a long time because
it's a place where kids are and where a lot of problems can manifest."
Many educators don't
feel comfortable talking about suicide, or often don't know what to do or say
when a student needs help, Jobes says. He recommends resources from the American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention that
are specific to schools.
“It's really hard to
prevent it, if we don't know it's there," he says. So educators shouldn't
be afraid to talk about suicide — because saving lives begins with ‘asking a
question.’”
[This article also includes “6 Myths About
Suicide That Every Educator And Parent Should Know.”]
Addendum A
15 articles on suicide in our country, our state
(including 10 from May to July 2018)
“Suicidal
thoughts, vaping and low perception of risk among concerns for El Paso County
youth, survey finds,” The Gazette, by Debbie
Kelly, July 26, 2018.[viii]
Responses
from a voluntary, anonymous survey on risky teen behavior show suicide
remains a pressing concern….
According to the fall 2017 Healthy Kids
Colorado Survey, released this week, one in five El Paso County students said
they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. The
statewide average is 17 percent. And almost 16 percent of El Paso County
teens indicated they had made a plan about how they would take their lives,
compared with 13 percent statewide….
The
county in recent years has trended “slightly higher” than statewide rates in
terms of teen suicide, said Megan Haynes, Teen Suicide Prevention Planner for
El Paso County Public Health….
One encouraging part, Haynes said, was
that local adolescents scored high on “protective factors,” that help ward
off suicide attempts and other risky behavior, such as good access to mental
health care, connectedness to family, other trusting adults and friends, and
the ability to problem-solve and be resilient when facing life’s setbacks.
“These things we are hopeful about,”
Haynes said, “such as the percentage that had someone to talk to when they
were feeling sad, 81 percent. We recognize that as an opportunity, as to how
we can develop that connectedness.”
|
“We must work together to prevent
suicide,” Denver Post, by State
Legislator Dafna Michaelson Jenet, House District 30, June 28, 2018.[ix]
Suicide is one
of the leading causes of death in our country. In 2016, we lost 45,000
sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers and friends to suicide. That is more than
car accident related deaths. An epidemic is unfolding before our eyes and
studies tell us that suicide continues to increase, but we are failing to
adequately invest in solutions….
A big
disappointment this year was that the legislature did not pass my bill to
establish a coordinated statewide campaign to end youth suicide. The bill
would have also reduced the age at which a youth can seek confidential
psychotherapy services from a licensed mental health professional without the
consent of his or her parent or guardian, from 15 to 12. Suicide prevention
does not happen at the moment of suicidality, it happens long before a person
reaches the crisis stage — this is true for adults as well as youth.
The bottom
line is this: Kids are committing suicide at young ages, and they should be
able to access the help they so desperately need. It could save a life.
The suicide
epidemic knows no bounds. It is affecting teens, veterans, and people of all
races, identities and socio-economic backgrounds. We must do more to help
Coloradans locate and receive the support they desperately need.
|
“NAMI looks
‘Below the Surface’ to combat teen suicide,” The
Colorado Independent, by Faith
Miller, by June 6, 2018.[x]
When
five teenagers at his high school took their own lives in a single semester,
Chad Hawthorne knew he had to do something.
Two years ago, the National Alliance on Mental Illness Colorado Springs offered him — and a handful of other El Paso County students who’d been affected by tragedy — a way to help.
In
2016, there were 15 completed youth suicides, a jump from seven in 2014 and
14 in 2015, according to El Paso County Public Health. Colorado has one of
the highest overall suicide rates in the country, and while statistically
it’s hard to compare rates across counties, El Paso County’s rate has long
been one of the worst.
|
“Colorado
Vet's Death Offers Glimpse Into Suicidal Mind,” The Gazette (Colorado Springs), by Stephanie Earls, June 23, 2018.[xi]
Higher rates
Since 1999 in Colorado, the heart of the so-called “suicide
belt,” the number of people taking their own lives has increased by more than
34 percent.
Higher rates in the American West are
likely the result of a confluence of several factors, including greater
access to firearms and terrain that can make crisis intervention especially
challenging.
|
“My Mother’s Suicide in Part of My Story and
It’s Helping Me Change the Lives of Students,” Education
Post, by LeeAndra Khan, CEO of Civitas Partners, June 6, 2018.[xii]
We don’t talk enough about mental
illness and suicide in our schools. There are phrases we throw around to
explain away someone’s differences or to discard people who can’t get it
right, like, “he/she is crazy.” But as teachers, parents and community
members, if we are truly about social justice, reform and active engagement,
this is one of the things we must talk about—at length—and be more sensitive
about.
Listening Is an Act of
Kindness
It’s hard for all of us to do, especially
educators but listen with an empathetic heart. Our students are trying to
tell us what they need, but the constructs of schooling sometimes prevent us
from truly hearing them. When we listen, we open up opportunities to build
relationships. When we build relationships, student can feel connected. If
they feel connected, they may ask for your help.
|
“Four takeaways from a new report on the status of Colorado’s
children,” Chalkbeat Colorado, by Ann Schimke, March 22, 2018.[xiii]
Colorado’s youth suicide rate is alarming —
and guns figure into the equation
At a time when school shootings are
fueling a push for gun control legislation in some quarters, KIDS COUNT’s
authors note the prominent role that guns play in youth suicides, especially
for boys. About half of males 10 to 19 who die by suicide use firearms. (In
comparison, only about 20 percent of suicide deaths in girls involve
firearms.)…
KIDS
COUNT also raises concern about Colorado’s high youth suicide rate, which
came up in the state legislature earlier this year after a high-profile suicide of a 10-year-old Aurora girl.
In 2016, there were 18 suicides for every 100,000 people aged 15 to 19 in the
state — higher than in all but two of the last 25 years. The problem is particularly
acute in two counties: El Paso and Mesa, where teen suicide rates were 29 per
100,000 in 2016.
|
“Colorado kids doing better in many areas, but face
problems with suicide, school funding, infant mortality, report says,” Denver Post, by Monte Whaley, March 22, 2018.[xiv]
One of the most troubling areas pointed
out by the report is teen suicide in Colorado. In 2016, 18 out of every
100,000 Colorado teens died by suicide — the highest teen suicide rate since
1991.
Among people ages 10-24 in Colorado, suicide is the leading cause of
death, Kids Count said.
“Tragically, suicide has claimed the lives of far too many Colorado
children and adolescents,” said Kelley Causey (the president and CEO of
the Colorado Children’s Campaign).
|
“Rates up in all but 1 state between 1999 and 2016,”
The Washington
Post, by Amy Ellis Nutt, June 7, 2018. [xv]
Suicide
rates rose in all but one state between 1999 and 2016, with increases seen
across age, gender, race and ethnicity, according to a report released
Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….
Increasingly, suicide is being viewed not only as a mental health
problem but a public health one. Nearly 45,000 suicides occurred in the
United States in 2016 — more than twice the number of homicides — making it
the 10th-leading cause of death. Among people ages 15-34, suicide is the second-leading
cause of death.
|
|
They conducted a nationally
representative survey of nearly 6,000 middle and high school students. Their
study, "Digital Self-Harm Among Adolescents," revealed that 6 percent
of students say they have cyberbullied themselves.
"These are youth who are knowingly and
intentionally posting negative messages about themselves—and reporting that
they did so to researchers. We should be deeply concerned that there are
young people out there who are struggling and not getting the support that
they need," researcher Danah Boyd said in an email.
…In March, Twitter introduced the
policy by suspending accounts that had used trigger words implying self-harm
or suicide, including the phrases "I want to die" and "kill
myself." That resulted in criticism from Twitter users who share and
post memes, expressing concern that the site may be unable to distinguish
when such phrases are being used for humor and entertainment.
|
“Middle School Suicides Reach
An All-Time High,” National Public Radio, by Elissa Nadworny, Nov. 4, 2016.[xvii]
There's a perception that children don't kill themselves, but that's
just not true. A new report shows that, for the first time, suicide rates for
U.S. middle school students have surpassed the rate of death by car crashes.
The suicide rate among youngsters ages 10 to 14 has been steadily
rising, and doubled in the U.S. from 2007 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. In 2014, 425 young people 10 to 14 years of age died by suicide.
|
A
FEW EFFORTS TO ADDRESS TEEN SUICIDE
|
“School grants to fight
suicide,” Denver Post, by Monte
Whaley, June 24, 2018.[xviii]
Colorado
schools will soon divide $400,000 into small grants to pay for
suicide-prevention training for all campus employees, including teachers,
front-desk attendants and custodians. The training, supporters say, is
designed to bolster the fight against a rising tide of suicides by youths.
But
a more comprehensive suicide-prevention measure that backers say would have
done more to help troubled teens was nixed by Colorado lawmakers during the
2018 sessions. The proposal was attacked largely over a provision to lower
the age from 15 to 12 that children could get therapy without parental
consent….
In
Colorado, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24.
And it’s mostly because youths today face unprecedented pressures from modern
society and social media, Shannon Hawley said….
Hawley
said suicide-prevention training should not be limited to teachers and others
who deal with particular age groups. “Nor should we put an age requirement on
our youth seeking counseling,” Hawley said. “Suicide does not discriminate on
age. We have 10- and 11-year-old babies who are taking their own lives.”
The
grants will be especially useful in Colorado’s rural school districts, which
don’t have ready access to school therapists and counselors, officials say.
The suicide rate among rural Coloradans ages 15-19 is double the rate of
their peers in the state’s more urban areas….
Metro-area schools districts, including Jefferson County Public Schools
and Denver Public Schools, have their own far-reaching suicide prevention programs.
At DPS, the Signs of Suicide curriculum — taught in sixth and ninth grades —
focuses on supporting students to identify warning signs of depression and
reporting to a trusted adult, say officials.
|
“Colorado lawmakers
take one small step – but no more – to reduce youth suicide,”
Chalkbeat Colorado, by Erica Meltzer, May
8, 2018.[xix]
A bipartisan bill that’s
headed to the governor’s desk allocates $400,000 for small grants of between
$5,000 and $10,000 to schools to train staff in suicide prevention.
This modest yet hard-won bill is the only
legislation this year that directly addresses the second leading cause of
death for people aged 10 to 24 in Colorado. When the session started, many
people were still shaken by the news that an Aurora fifth-grader had taken
her own life, news that came on the heels of several suicides by teenagers at
suburban high schools.
|
“A Growth Mindset Isn't Enough. It's Time for a Benefit Mindset.” Subtitle: “Could a focus on altruism curb student
suicide?” Education Week, by Arina Bokas & Robert Ward, June
19, 2018.[xx]
Halfway through 2018, our nation is deep in thought: What is
happening—or not happening—in our schools and communities that causes our
teenagers to take their own lives or cut short the lives of others? …
Suicide rates increased in 49 states and the District of Columbia from 1999 to 2016—including by more than 30 percent in 25 states, according to a report released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Nevada is the sole outlier.) For teenagers ages 15-19, the numbers are also alarming: After a decrease starting in the mid-1990s, suicides doubled between 2007 and 2015 for girls and rose 30 percent for boys, according to 2017 CDC data.
Could it be that the escalating instances
of teen violence are, in part, an unintended consequence of ensuring that the
world around each child is tailored just to him or her? …
This all
gets to one of the root causes of teen suicides: Many disaffected youths see
no purpose in living. Currently, we invest in teens' well-being by boosting
their confidence, determination, and work ethic—all with an emphasis on
self-improvement. Consequently, children define success by their grades,
garb, and gadgets. Later, it's all about the job they will hold, the salary
they will earn, and the things they will buy.
Yet, how
often do we expect our children to intentionally give back or pay forward?
|
Letter to Editor – (Education Week) - excerpts from a response
to the article above,
In a recent Commentary, the
authors outlined how serious the plight of our young people is today,
highlighted by the stunning increase in their suicide rates …. a lifetime of trying to determine how we
can best prepare children for the future has taught me that the roots of the
suicide problem go much deeper.
Our present education
system wrongly sees children as mini-adults. Too focused on funneling
students to become future workers or college students, the current
educational system fails to recognize the individual potential of its
students. Each child is unique, gifted with a potential which is guided by a
moral compass.
Education should first
serve each child's potential—the foundation for a successful and fulfilling
life. When education does this, students are in a better position to receive
the support they need to succeed in the classroom….
Students are often in a
defensive position in the classroom, but they can develop a more open attitude
when teachers show that they are willing to help them prepare for life. As a
result, when teachers help students, students are then encouraged to reach
out and help their peers. Connecting with students on a more personal level
contributes to both scholarship and character development.
|
“How Teens Are
Helping Other Teens With Suicide Prevention,” 4 CBS Denver, by Jamie Leary, Sept.
25, 2017.[xxii]
It took two
suicide attempts before a Colorado Springs teen found a reason to live and
began to wonder, “What if teens hold the answer to the youth suicide problem
in Colorado?”…
“I don’t really know how it started. Just
one day, I woke up and I want to say I was bored with life. There was nothing
keeping me here. I would cry at the drop of a hat and I just, I never knew
why.”
Compounding those feelings,
Macy experienced the loss of several classmates by suicide. She said the
efforts of her school to help were well-intended but didn’t work.
“They (schools) have a script they
have to read to us,” said Macy Rae. “These kids that are killing
themselves, they’re our friends, they’re our classmates, they’re our
peers. There’s an empty chair over there and that chair belonged to this
person and it’s just traumatic and that script makes everyone so angry that
we don’t pay attention.”…
According to the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment, the suicide
rate for teens ages 10 to 18 nearly doubled between 2006 and 2016. It rose
from 5.4 per 100,000 to 10.5.
It is the second leading cause of death
among teenagers in Colorado.
While Macy’s voice brings a new and crucial voice to the issue,
other organizations continue to fight as well. Since 2002, the
Second Wind Fund has helped nearly 4,500
teenagers who are at risk of suicide. Today, every single one of those teens
is still alive. Like Macy, Second Wind helps teens find a reason to live. It
has created a network of counselors ready to jump in, free of charge.
|
Addendum
B – Passages dealing with suicide – from literature in the high school
curriculum
Three works often read in American high schools. Students encounter
scenes like these – on suicide. Passages
that deserve a good discussion.
Topic for the English Department: How do we engage our students in
such passages? How personal do we
get? Where do we “draw the line”?
Hamlet
Act I, scene II - O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself
into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting
had not fixed
his canon ’gainst
self-slaughter!
Act III, scene I - To be or not to be, that is
the question:
Whether tis nobler in
the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against
a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end
them. To die—to sleep—
No more; and by a sleep
to say we end
The heartache, and the
thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ’Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.
Death of a Salesman
From Requiem, following the funeral
LINDA: Forgive me, dear.
I can’t cry. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t cry. I don’t understand it.
Why did you ever do that? Help me, Willy, I can’t cry. It seems to me that
you’re just on another trip. I keep expecting you. Willy, dear, I can’t cry.
Why did you do it? I search and search
and I search, and I can’t understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the
house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be nobody home. A sob rises in her throat.
We’re free and clear. Sobbing more fully,
released: We’re free. We’re free … We’re free …
The Catcher in the Rye
From chapter 22
“…So Stabile, with about
six other dirty bastards, went down to James Castle’s room and went in and
locked the goddam door and tried to make him take back what he said, but he
wouldn’t do it. So they started in on him. I won’t even tell you what they did
to him – it’s too repulsive – but he still
wouldn’t take it back, old James Castle. And you should’ve seen him. He was a skinny little weak-looking guy, with
wrists about as big as pencils. Finally, what he did, instead of taking back
what he said, he jumped out the window.
I was in the shower and all,
and even I could hear him land
outside, But I just thought something fell out the window, a radio or a desk or
something, not a boy or anything. Then I heard everybody running through the
corridor and down the stairs, so I put on my bathrobe and I ran downstairs too,
and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were
all over the place, and nobody would even go near him.”
[ii] AV #180 - Mission statements from 10 high-performing
schools–education for LIFE. (June 12, 2018)
[iv] Tragically, all too close to home for many schools in
my school district, Douglas County.
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