(07-20-2021 12:20 AM)BIGDTiger Wrote:  My brother in law and one of my dearest friends of over 30 years committed suicide. He leaves behind a beautiful wife , 4 kids and 4 grandchildren. He had everything all of us would say we want in life. Career. Dream home in the smokies. Dream wife. Dream kids. None of them were troubled. He came home for lunch and killed himself. No note. No appearance of issues that would have caused this.

He was the happiest person any of us ever knew. Yet none of us knew of whatever this struggle was he was having. What if that one conversation would have saved him? What if whatever had hit him so hard the other day would have fixed itself, or proven to be so much simpler with a few days of perspective and another visit with the grandchildren? What if he would have talked to his wife?

What if I would have called him more? Or texted?

We were not meant to bare our burdens alone. Don’t forsake friends. If you are struggling in life. If you have issues no one knows of but you. Seek help. Seek love. Seek prayer. And never believe for the first time that the world is better without you. The wreckage your absence will leave will effect everyone who’s life you have touched forever. Kids growing up without a dad. Grandkids never hearing the wisdom of a grandfather. A wife pulling back sheets for an empty side of the bed.

Everyone forever left with the question of , what if?

Thank you for sharing your story. I grieve with you. The sad truth is the public person we each project often masks pain that can run very deep. The past 18 months reveal mental health casualties including suicide have risen dramatically as we became more detached and isolated in the pandemic. Your heart-felt words are spot on. Compassionate human contact is a healing power. It heals the giver and the recipient.

Screw our differences and partisanship. Find joy in being part of connecting to people you know and helping those you may not.

May your family be blessed with only good memories as you celebrate the man you knew and loved.