Marines trying to restore hope to stop suicides

Marines trying to restore hope to stop suicides
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
September 8, 2012

After something terrible happens, it may be easy to wake up the next day with hope you'll feel better, but as the days pass by without any hope that will really happen, it gets harder to find a reason to wake up one more morning. You wonder "What's the point if every day I'll have this pain inside of me?" Waking up without hope of things getting better seems like torture. It feels even worse if you can't find anyone to talk to but what makes it all unbearable is when you do trust someone enough to talk to and they don't help you at all.

It sounds like the Marine Corps finally get it.

Suicide awareness, even one is too many
I Marine Expeditionary Force
Story by Cpl. Joshua Young

“We encourage Marines and sailors to seek assistance when necessary,” said Marcos Justiniano, a prevention and education specialist with Marine Corps Community Services. “We understand it may be difficult to reach out for assistance. You have to have a healthy body, mind and spirit to be effective. There’s a wealth of resources available to assist Marines to get back on track.”

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - The Marine Corps continues to make efforts to curb suicide rates, as more resources become available to battle the issue.

Marine Corps suicide rates dropped in 2010 by 6% and another 3% in 2011, according to the Suicide Prevention Program at Headquarters, Marine Corps. There were 32 suicides in the Marine Corps last year. As of August 2012 there have been 32 suicides in the Marine Corps this year.

Navy Lt. Dennis Kelly, the chaplain of 1st Radio Battalion and 1st Intelligence Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force, said even one is too many.

“It’s completely preventable,” he said. We may not be able to pick up some of the warning signs, but we can prevent people from getting to the point of desperation through programs and education. If people didn’t get to the point of ‘no hope,’ there would be no more suicide.”

There are many factors that can lead to someone attempting to take their own life. The Navy, Marine Corps and Marine Corps Community Services, provide counseling and help to those in need.
read more here

Now if we think about what hope feels like, this will be a lot easier to understand.

The odds of hitting the lottery are astronomical, yet millions of people buy a lottery ticket everyday. My guilty pleasure are scratch tickets. I spend my $2.00 or sometimes $5 if I feel extra "lucky" that day hoping to hit enough to fund my charity without ever having to ask for another donation. I go out to my car, scratch off the numbers I need to match, then work backwards on the numbers I ended up with. I slowly scratch them one at a time so I can savor that hope of the next number being what I need to find. For those few moments in an otherwise hard day, it was worth the couple of dollars I wasted.

I pray in the morning with hope that I'll be able to do what I need to do that day and then pray again at night hoping I did.

Hope keeps us going and trying to get from one day to the next. If you wake up and each day seems worse, hope evaporates.

If you wake up thinking you'll get over what is eating you up today, that is a day wasted waiting instead of doing. As soon as you start talking about it, you begin to defeat it. It loses because without knowing it, every word that comes out of your month comes out connected to hope. Hope that this word will explain it all and the word said back means they understand. That the person listening to you not only hears you but understand you. That all you just told them didn't send them running away and they are still sitting there for you gives you hope helping you understand that what you said is not as bad as you thought it would be.

Little by little the secrets you thought you had to keep are scratched away. If the person you're talking to is really good, soon you end up seeing that this feeling matches that event. You are able to acknowledge how much that moment meant to you then you being to make peace with it. If they are exceptionally good, the help you to understand that you had little control over what happened especially when you are dealing with guilt.

There will be days when you may think it is getting worse when you may be crying or feeling the pain getting stronger but that is just because your feelings are being unfrozen. You are no longer numb to them. The wall your mind built out of the events, secrets and denial to protect you is being worn down, so you feel worn out.

I can assure you that after 30 years of doing this, tomorrow doesn't have to be as hopeless as today is. I've seen so many come out on the other side with so much hope they give the extra away to help others feel what they feel. So what are you waiting for?