Entering the Battle

You know the feeling you get when watching movie scenes like the following: two sides are a ways apart. They’re about to fight. You have the rebels on one side and the police with riot shields on the other. They pause. There’s something ominous about the stillness. There’s an ugly darkness that weighs heavily in the air.

This is Gotham’s policemen versus Bane. Saruman’s orks versus the refugees at Helm’s Deep. The Confederates and Unionists at Gettysburg.

For me, whenever I watch scenes like that, I always wonder what the two sides are thinking right before they battle to their death. Are they resigned? Scared? Resolute?

What I often forget is that there are life-and-death battles going on right now all around me and I never even notice them.

Suicide

I’ll tell you what: that is one unattractive word. And unlike “death”, there isn’t really a kind euphemism that can be used for it. There are no “passing away”s and “gave up the ghost”s to make it sound better than it is.

There’s just the cold reality that someone didn’t think this life was worth living. The pain was too great. They didn’t think there was any other option.

I’ll go through some of the heartbreaking statistics (I got these from here and here):

1. There are around 5,400 suicide ATTEMPTS EACH DAY 2. In 2013, 41,149 people in the US died of suicide.

3. Over 800,000 people die by suicide each year.

4. Four out of five people who attempt suicide give clear warning signs.

The last sign is ominous in a different way than the others. You mean to tell me that the people who kill themselves (or try to) gave CLEAR signs that they were about to do that? Wow… we gotta keep our eyes open.

*Sigh* I could go on and on about what a killer depression is and how people feel when they want to commit suicide. But that just makes a dark subject even darker. I’ll focus on what we can do try to cheer people up.

Start by just being there for them.

Living in a World So Cold

There’s a song called “Never Too Late” by Three Days Grace that goes something like this:

Even if I say it’ll be alright

Still I hear you say

You want to end your life

Now and again we try

To just stay alive

Maybe we’ll turn it all around

Because it’s not too late

It’s never too late

The key for the person singing these lyrics is that he is there for the person struggling. Maybe someone you know did something he or she is ashamed of. Maybe he is all alone. Maybe she is bullied and told she doesn’t matter. You don’t know the demons this person is dealing with.

But what I do know is that Satan is working overtime to get this person to believe lies. He goes across the earth looking for victims (Job 2:2, 1 Peter 5:8), and the depressed are easy targets. Here are some of the things he’s telling him:

You don’t matter.

You can’t be forgiven.

You won’t amount to anything.

You’re ugly.

No one loves you.

It would be better if you didn’t exist.

These lies are deadly persuasive because they can look like they are true on the surface. It can appear as if what she did is unforgivable. It can appear that no one loves him. It can look as if this person won’t do anything in this life.

This is where you come in.

If Everyone Cared

Okay, so I quoted a depressing song’s lyrics. Let me turn the tables by giving you something else:

If everyone cared

And nobody cried

If everyone loved

And nobody lied

If everyone shared

And swallowed their pride

We’d see the day

Where nobody died

–Nickelback “If Everyone Cared”

The fact of the matter is that you can be that person who helps save someone’s life one day. You can tell this person he is valuable. You can tell her she’s beautiful. You can tell them they matter and that there is a loving God who will always forgive them.

You can open a world of hope that Satan is desperately trying to shut. You can encourage them. You can be their sunshine.

People are showing signs that they are broken. We just ignore them. Let’s keep our eyes open and look for ways to validate those around us.

#Suicide #AQCFaith #AQCCulture