I am angry. I am angry at the world and I want to do something about it but I can't. I want to live in a world where it is just as easy to talk about suicide as it is about cancer, but I don't. Both are pretty.. lethal but only one gets the celebrity endorsements and the great charity fundraising and the publicity. As a poster that I have seen around the internet says you don't tell someone with cancer to pull themselves together or to snap out of it, but with mental illness and its surrounding symptoms it seems perfectly acceptable.
This is a specific rant. Today I found out that a charity I sponsor is at serious risk of closure. For the sake of £65,000. It costs them £200,000 a year to run the charity. This charity reaches out to suicidal people and stops them from dying. Last year they intervened in over 800 peoples lives to help them see a way forward where the person didn't think there was one.
Yet, because of the nature of their work they don't like to draw attention to their cause for fear of promoting suicide. It is a legitimate concern but a very frustrating situation. It angers me that it is ok to talk about cancer or other serious illnesses and its ok to raise money for them, but its not ok to talk about suicide. I am not saying their decision is wrong because I completely agree with it, but I can still get angry.
I don't want to see this charity close, its work is vital. However, what I can do, what can we do when we live in a world where its "brave" to fight through a cancer battle but to even consider suicide is "weak" and "the easy way out".
If you want to I am sure you can probably find out which charity I am talking about. I hope it doesn't go because its been saving people's lives for ten years and I hope it can continue to do so for another ten, but it wont unless something seriously changes in the next few weeks. I fear that society just isn't ready to talk about suicide and mental illness enough to save the charity.
sad news. sad day.
