The other day was World Suicide Prevention Day, I had taken part in a social media campaign for the last week to raise awareness for the day and the suicide prevention movement as a whole. As I opened my email that morning I noticed multiple invites to join a webcast and watch live as the newly formed National Action Alliance for suicide prevention addressed the press and the nation about the formation of this new body and the importance of continuing suicide prevention in the country.
After a brief battle with unsupported browsers, I logged in and began to watch as Senator Gordon Smith took the podium and began addressing the nations leaders in Suicide Prevention. While Senator Smith was in office he spearheaded what is widely considered as some of the most important legislation addressing suicide prevention in the United States. This legislation was called the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, named after Senator Smith’s son who had died by suicide.
As a young professional in this field I have often been struck by the fact that a vast majority of my colleagues in suicide prevention have been deeply impacted by the issue of suicide in some way, shape or form. Whether like Senator Smith they are survivors of the suicide of a loved one, whether they themselves have gone down the arduous road of suicidal ideation or whether they like me have simply fallen into this field and found themselves swept up in the stories of those who have fought with depression and mental illness and overcome and the stories of those who have lost their lives by suicide.
I often find myself struggling to stay passionate about what I do on a day-to-day basis. Encouragement and renewed vigor comes in many forms. The other day it came in the words of Senator Smith-
"Just imagine if we could end suicide in this country, we would save 34,000 lives a year. But let's say that we can't. Let's say that we could save but one. We would be in the shoes of leaving the 99 to save the one. I have said on many occasions like this that those who do this work, work on the side of angels."
It was the reference to one of the parables of Jesus that got my attention. In this Parable Jesus talks about the good shepherd who has 100 sheep and leaves the 99 to rescue the 1 who is lost. I have always loved that story for the sheer illogic of it. To the logical mind that sounds like a poor and irresponsible shepherd, but to the passionate heart, to the hurting soul, to the lost and the broken…that sounds like the only kind of shepherd worth following.
I have always been drawn to stories of rescue, of hope, of redemption. And that is why I can be passionate about what I do. Often suicide prevention work can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and while the comprehensive nature of the Sources of Strength program addresses issues outside of suicide it can still often feel like we’re digging through hay. But when faced with the challenge of leaving the 99, of rescuing the one, of helping the hurting, of healing the broken, of uplifting the downtrodden…well that I can get behind.
