One million each year
One every 40 seconds
Three thousand per day

No I’m not talking about how many people get a dog, or how many people hold the door for another person. And no, I’m not talking about how many people have their first kiss or how many people get on a plane.

I’m talking about suicide.

Now look around, 1 in every 6 people think seriously about suicide. That right now could be 4 people in this room. These people, your classmates, struggle to wake up in the morning or go home at night. They struggle to find the greatness within themselves, or the greatness in life. 1 in 6 of your classmates. In our high school cafeteria the round tables have 8 seats. That means that when you sit in your seat with all your friends, at least 1 of them is struggling.

? of the people who commit suicide are depressed when they die. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death. There is 1 teen suicide for every 25 attempts in the U.S. In 2012 more U.S soldiers committed suicide than ones that died in combat. In the U.K the most common death for men under 50 is suicide. There are twice as many suicides as there are homicides in the U.S.

2% of the people who jump off the Golden Gate Bridge survive the fall.

99.9% of people who attempted suicide regretted it right after they did it.

Everyone wonders why these things happen, but at that point it’s always too late. Rather than saying how amazing someone was at their funeral, tell it to their face beforehand. Tell a stranger, tell your best friend, tell someone how much they mean to the world. How unique they are, how talented, how creative, how kind and loving they are. Maybe your simple action can change their day, their week, and their month.
As these people walk down the hallway in our very own school they have a smile on their face, yet their mind is far from smiling. Racing with the thoughts,
“You’re not good enough.”
“You will never be good enough.”
“No one would care if you were gone.”
“You’re worthless.”
“You don’t matter.”
“Nothing you say or do matters.”
“You’re nothing special.”
“Everyone is better than you.”

It’s crazy to think how many people stayed home from school today. Not because they were sick, but because they stayed up all night crying and couldn’t work up the energy to even get out of bed and face the world today. The number of people who go home to a screaming family but still manage to get a 100% on their essay due the next day. Or keep a smile on their face that whole week. It’s crazy how many people look at themselves in the mirror and think they are worthless and that no one would care if they were here or not.
Now is the time for change. Maybe the only thing they needed was for someone to say they cared. Maybe all they needed was for one person to stand up and say that they aren’t worthless or replaceable. If someone stood up and told them how special, amazing, unique, talented, loving, and inspiring they are, maybe they would wipe their tears away.
Wipe away their worries and their sadness. Put a smile back on their face and tackle the world like they used to. Maybe just by giving them a hug or a smile they would put away those toxic thoughts and replace them with a thousand “I Can”s.
And to all the people who once thought deeply about suicide. I encourage you to stick through it. You are amazing, and soon enough you will be accomplishing far more than you could’ve ever dreamt of. And you’ll have one crazy inspirational story to tell your kids.
Stand up tall like the Statue of Liberty. Stand up tall like all the people you aspire to be.
Dear Survivor,
Don’t let your story end. Don’t become another number apart of a statistic. You are amazing, you are worth far more than you think.