A woman in her 70s approached me while walking Bogart through Sausalito yesterday. “Is that your bus and bike?” she said. After talking briefly about my mission, she said, “Yesterday was my son’s birthday, he would have been 47. He took his life 25 years ago.” She told me how she and her daughter celebrate his life on his birthday every year as it is a way to remember all of the good he did in his life. She talked of grandchildren that could have been and how she still feels it was such a waste after all these years.
She asked if I could write this story, with the belief that it might help just one person from taking their life. She said, “Because you will make those who love you, question themselves what they did wrong and what they should have done differently the rest of their lives, even if you tell them it wasn’t their fault in your suicide note.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 20th, 2013 at 10:41 am and is filed under Kindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.