I would like to take a moment to commend the community for coming together and participating in Call to Action's ‘Walk in Memory, Walk for Hope' on Sept. 10, as part of World Suicide Prevention Day.
It blew me away to see that nearly 200 people were in white Call to Action T-shirts and ready to roll when I arrived at the community centre before the walk.
I would also like to commend Karen Carrier for gaining the courage to stand up in front of all those people and speak about the loss of her son, Stephen Carrier, to suicide in January.
Imagine how hard it would be not only to speak about such a sensitive topic, but also to speak about it while it is still so fresh.
When I was nine years old, I lost my older brother Kristoffer to suicide. He was 19 at the time and I thought he was so old, but now that I am 20, I realize how young he really was.
I wrote a speech for his funeral, which was extremely difficult to read in front of hundreds of people. I still remember trying to spit the words out over my racing tears, with my father beside me holding my hand. This is why I am so proud of Karen.
While I was chatting with Karen following the event, we were able to relate and connect. It was uplifting. This is one of the reasons why it's great that the community came together, because when someone is going through a loss, it helps to be able to talk to someone who understands on some level. And if people didn't come together, people wouldn't know that there are others who understand.
This event made me realize how common suicide really is, which is why it's important to spread awareness. A few years ago I lost my uncle Paul to suicide as well. He was a wonderful man. He always made people laugh.
In a suicide statistics report on the Canadian Mental Health Association Toronto branch website, it says that according to the World Health Organization, someone around the globe commits suicide every 40 seconds.
It's an issue that people don't feel comfortable talking about, and I have to admit, I've been guilty of that. But that's not how it should be.
Every person I've talked to that has lost someone to suicide always says ‘I don't know why they did it'. We should be creating awareness so that people who are suffering from mental illness and maybe contemplating suicide feel there are people they can reach out to.
When I went back to school after my brother passed, well, everyone knows kids are curious and not afraid to ask questions. So I had quite the variety of questions and statements thrown at me. One of them that stuck with me is when a classmate said ‘if he killed himself, that means he went to hell'.
There are people who believe suicide is a sin, but you know what, it's happening more and more every day. It's reality. Stop treating it as a sin and start dealing with it.
Suicide victims have people that love them and are suffering from losing them. Why is it a sensitive subject if it's a common issue? It needs to be talked about.
So thank you, Call to Action, for working to get this message out there. And thank you to my family, who got together and lit a candle at 8 p.m. on World Suicide Prevention Day, as did I.
Rest in paradise to all those who have decided their lives weren't worth living anymore, because to us, your lives were worth more than you understood.
