We Need Each Other

September is Suicide Prevention Month. Beth shared with me a week ago that she was going to write an editorial but didn’t want to tell me about it because she didn’t want me to steal her topic. We lost someone we dearly love to suicide. She was right that I would want to write about it, but I promised I wouldn’t. I’m sure she will do a better job anyway, so please read her article this week.

Instead, I’m going to write about something that dovetails with the topic and has been on my heart lately.  As it turns out, I’m glad we waited a week to write our articles because the topic I’m sharing is even more relevant with events that have happened in the last few days.

We all need each other. Drive down every main street or gravel road in our county and you’ll see a collection of businesses with very talented people that we all need at one time or another. Plus there are plenty of other talented people that contribute to our communities in other ways outside of business settings. When you get down to it, everyone has a purpose and a role in our communities.

Suicide is painful because we lose loved ones. We lose people we need. It’s tragic that they might not see how much they are loved and needed. It’s heartbreaking when it hits close to home.

I could stop there, and maybe I should. But let me say too that we need people we disagree with. They can help us learn to see things a new way. They can push us to wrestle with ideas that we otherwise wouldn’t. That’s why I was shocked and disappointed by our President’s speech last week from Independence Hall. He vilified his political opponents, calling them a “threat to this country.” While he said he was not speaking of “the majority of Republicans,” I think many people in our county would feel targeted by his comments. I would even say that these people he singled out love our country and the Constitution and are likely not guilty of any of the other things of which he accused them.

My response is that we need each other. Partisan rhetoric is not helpful. I will join the President with one voice if he condemns all political violence. Let’s discuss and debate our disagreements without calling each other a “threat to our country” or an “enemy of the state” (which was Donald Trump’s response).

For Suicide Prevention Month, let your loved ones know that they are loved and needed. Time is too short. Do you have great neighbors like we do? Let them know how much you appreciate them. Let’s find common ground with those we disagree with and have the courage to tell them what we appreciate about them. We need each other, so let’s act like it.

And if you’re thinking about suicide, I beg you to reach out to someone. You are loved and needed, and you need a little help right now to get through a very tough time. We need each other and it’s more than OK to ask for help. We need you to do that.

Alan Sparrow is co-owner of the Polk County News. Find his column, Alan’s Anecdotes, each week in the newspaper and online at www.polkcountynews.net.