We Are None of Us Alone
Please forgive the double posting. I felt it this was worth it.
In seven days over 50,000 of you joined an online community offering encouragement and help.
Today (Sunday) at noon hundreds are meeting on the Golden Gate Bridge to take a stand against suicide at the very place where it happens most in the world. (You’re invited, look for the yellow balloons and ribbons).
This hopeful story has received international press coverage including this first report on Time Magazine’s NewFeed.
I haven’t heard from the person who mailed this postcard, but I have heard from many who have felt lifted by this flashmob of kindness.
Blatantly lifted from Post Secret.
I cannot be in San Fransisco today, but I am there in spirit. We are none of us alone. Please, if you’re ever feeling like this is the end, remember that we are all connected. None of us, we are none of us alone.
Call 1(800)SUICIDE [1-800-784-2433] for help, day or night.
Love to each of you, My Pranksters, who remind me that no matter how dark it is, there is always a light.
Please, pass on the message. Twitter is going strong with it #yellowballoons #suicideprevention.
How fitting for today, the first day I have actually felt alive since learning of the death of my love a week ago.
We are none of us alone. How true.
*hugs* and LOVE and understanding from someone who cares. <3
I’m so sorry for your loss. You know how sorry I am. xoxo
Thank you. It’s harder today than it was yesterday. *sigh* I guess that’s how it goes, isn’t it? One day at a time.
A friend of my husband (who he hasn’t really seen since high school) committed suicide on Friday. So, so sad. Hopefully whoever said that they plan to jump from the bridge sees the support everyone is sending and is saved.
I’m so sorry, Rebecca. That’s just awful.
[…] Jun Inspired first by Postsecret and then again by Aunt Becky, I wanted to post today that since I can’t be in San Francisco in person, I will be there in […]
I sure hope this person realizes that depression lies. Thank you Becky for spreading the word.
That’s just it. Depression DOES lie. Brilliantly said. I was trying to put that into words to The Daver and you pegged it. Depression lies.
actually, some of us ARE alone,that’s just how it works out sometimes. what I wondered when I saw this story, is the turn around time so fast on post secret that it came in & was posted before the week was up?
xoxo. I’m so sorry that you feel so alone. We’re all sending you love and light.
Much love, Aunt Becky. We <3 you. Hang in there.
I’ll be tweeting all day. I hope the person who sent in the secret sees all of the people who care.
Thanks for tweeting/posting this. Because I would’ve missed it. And I agree with the effort. Everyone I know, who at some point was suicidal, has never regretted not being successful. It takes time and hope and caring, but life gets so much better. I hope the author hears this. And maybe a few other people too.
You forget how many people read your words. At least, I do. But this stuff reminds you that we’re all connected.
This story is incredible. I’ve been watching it on FB and twitter. I sincerely hope the sender of this postcard has been paying attention as well and that he/she has changed his/her mind about jumping.
I hope that somewhere, someone is listening.
I loved this. Everything about it. The support people are showing to those that feel they are in such a dark place. My heart and prayers goes out to them! I’ve had a million yellow balloons in my mind all day!
Thank Aunt Becky…for helping to spread the word!
Megan
It’s beautiful. There’s just so much beauty in people.
I feel like that every day, EVERY FUCKING DAY, but the thought of who I might hurt is more painful than the thought of working through it.
I’m so sorry you feel that way. I won’t minimize it by saying anything stupid, but I do want you to know that there is a light. People care. *I* care. I’ve been in that dark place too, and I clawed my way back out eventually.
So many of us have found ourselves in that dark, and the light always manages to find us again. Let us know if you need anything for your journey back into the light.
xoxo, Prankster. Lots of love.
I love you, dude.
I’ve been dealing with suicidal depression for over 4 years now, It was under a year ago that I finally went to counseling and it has changed my life. Thank you for sharing this, because sometimes all you need is the knowledge that people do care.
When you’re at the bottom of the pit, it’s hard to see anything but the blackness. People, they DO care and so many DO understand. They really, REALLY do. More than you can see when you’re REALLY in the thick of it.
I’m so glad that you got some counseling and are getting slowly better. I know it’s a process, not an event. Trust me, I understand that. Proud of you. Admitting there’s a problem, that’s tough.
xoxo
Aunt Becky – You are one of the most phenomenally amazing human beings I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing and I am perpetually amazed by the depth of your compassion. Thank you for this post.
I too have been there to the black place. Where theres no light and its so heavy you can’t breath and you can’t think and you can’t do anything and you just can’t bear to live like that anymore. But Aunt Becky is right, you’re not there alone and you don’t have to stay there. Even though when you’re in the bottom of the pit you think there is no light and you wonder if light ever really existed I promise that there is light and you can find it again and that you are not alone.
You are loved. You are special and valuable and wonderful. And I am just one of the many, many people who would love to help you.
ps- Aunt Becky every time you say you have the emotional range of a stick or some such manure – you need to read this post and every post you’ve ever written about your kids and know you’re completely and totally wrong about that.
There’s always a light. Always.
And thank you for saying these kind words about me. Sometimes, I forget that my words have meaning, too. xoxo
My husband lost two friends to suicide within a year and a half and it was horrible. My heart goes out to anyone who has come to such a painful point. I hope anyone who has reached that moment can reach out – there are so many lives touched and people left behind. We miss his friends every day – as do their families. Much love.
Suicide is never the answer. Ever. Anyone who has been in that dark place knows that there is a light place too. Where there is dark, there has to be light too. Send your husband my love.
xoxo
What a terrible tragedy. It shatters my heart to think that there is anyone in the world who thinks that there is simply nothing left to live for. Life is not easy, but there is always at least one person who cares. For what it’s worth, I care. Once, when I felt that no one in this world cared, I received a letter from an ex-friend, someone whom I had lost touch with much earlier. That one message, that he saw me disappearing and didn’t want to see it happen to me, made a huge difference. Please know that you are never alone. Never completely.
None of us are alone. We forget that when we hurt, others can touch us, too, just as we touch them.
great photo! and great comments here. you’ve said all the right things, i know because i’ve been there too. you think you’ll never ever see it again, but there is light.
The light is always there. Hidden, sometimes, but always there.
I hope the power of the Internet can change the mind of the person who made that postcard.
People will be touched. That postcard was a cry for help. I hope that you are right and the sender hears the words of people who DO care.
[…] We Are None of Us Alone | Mommy Wants Vodka […]
Good work.
Wow, just read through all the comments. To those that are still in that hellhole called depression, I feel your pain. Some of you are going through the EXACT same thing I am and it sucks, period. To those of you that have managed to find a way out: you are an inspiration. Spread the light.
I watched the movie Sunshine Cleaning and I cried throughout, much to my surprise. It touched upon the subject ever so slightly yet in a very deep way.
{{{{hugs}}}}
[…] Thanks to my friend Aunt Becky for these words: “we are none of us alone” […]