Yes, that was the theme song, "Wake-Up Everybody, No More Sleeping In Bed!" by the Harold Melvin and the BLUE Notes back in the day. I hope I'm telling my age because my life has been an evolution of sorts.
Back in the day, I was dancing to that snazzy tune and paid no attention to the actual lyrics. I have evolved!! There is meaning to those lyrics and today I attended a conference where Terrie M. Williams was a speaker on the topic of Suicide Prevention!!
Now, think about those lyrics and you will understand why fingers stopped popping and feet stopped tapping. The sad reality of those lyrics introduced us to the lives taken by TEENS!!! TEENS!!!! TEENS!!!!
Ms. Williams, and others, made us all focus on the folks in entertainment and the folks upstairs inside our own homes. Young mental illness sufferers who take the ultimate step. SUICIDE!
Why is teen suicide the 3rd leading cause of deaths among teens?
Why are teens intentionally getting involved in crime to end their lives?
IT IS time for a "Wake-Up Call!!" We have to understand that young kids do suffer from clinical depression. In addition, they are challenged in ways that ole' skool folks like me never were. There is drugs, s*x, AIDS/HIV, foster care, teen pregnancy, single-parent households, drugs, gangs, juvenile crime, poverty, lack of church participation, and genuine mental illness lurking among our teens. We MUST wake-up!!
Wake-Up adults, children do what we do and act the way we act. So, if we shrug off our mental health (depression) or cover it with drugs/alcohol, we TEACH kids that is the "right" treatment for a real heath issue requiring professional help.
Teens struggle more than we do. They are experiencing the delicate years of developing into adults and peer pressures are tremendous! If you couple that, or tripple that, with ADHD, ADD, Emotional Disorders, Learning Disabilities, s*x, STD's, Pregnancies/Abortions, etc., then our teens are extremely over-burdened.
The result is that many teens cannot handle that burden alone! They sink deeper and deeper into a blackness that is frought with suicidal thoughts. They begin to find hope in death to end their pain. They begin to plan and plot their exit from their blackness. Then the glass tips over one night and they carry out their suicidal plot. Unfortunately, that is when parents, family, teachers, and friends say those heart-breaking words,,,"I should have saw the signs."
Well, believe it or not, they DID see the signs! The tragedy is that the signs were not recognized as anything serious enough to lead to death or get professional help for the teen. Imagine an 11-year-old child hanging himself! Imagine a 13-year-old shooting herself in the head with the family gun!
Three times in my life I have been touched by suicide. All young adults. I never knew the signs either, but I do now as an adult with a mental illness. I do now because I became literate about those signs and burdens as an Educator. I want to learn more and that is why I attended the workshop in the first place. It is unspeakable when society allows a child to take his or her own life. What promises have been snatched away?
I recall watching Oprah one day while she toured the Holocaust Museum in Russia. The Doctor (forgive me, I forgot his name) was a Holocaust survivor who worked his free life building that Museum. Ok, so here is what he told Oprah as they stood in front of an encased glass room containing all the hair and shoes of Holocaust victims: "Any one of those persons could have found the cure for cancer, become President, solved world hunger....."
Alright, I'm me so I applied that to our ancestors who lost their lives in slavery. Today, I applied that to the public health statistics provided by David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General's last report in 1999. According to that Report, between 1980 and 1996, the rate of suicide among African-American males between ages 15 - 19 years increased 105 percent!!!! Here is another frightening revelation: many young African-American males will intentionally put themselves into harm's way to end their lives. These deaths are categorized wrongly as homicides, accidents. That stings when we apply the possibility that any one of those young African-American males could be doctors, lawyers, Educators, Scientists, Fathers, Husbands, Community Leaders, Religious Leaders, Politicians, Entrepreneurs (legal, of course), etc.
Again, families keep a tight lid on suicides. The stigma is shame, embarrassment, blame, guilt, and helplessness. Whenever this occurs, society can not learn from the death to create strong and successful prevention strategies.
Here are some important "signs" to recognize in teens BEFORE suicide is actually completed. (PREVENTION):
Some may TALK, WRITE, or DRAW about their own death or death wish!;
Some may describe themselves as helpless and worthless!;
They will appear depressed such as persistently sad, no energy, no interest in normal teen activities, be fatalistic about their future!;
Listen to them and you will learn they sound angry at parents or friends (above normal), they speak about strong rejection from everybody, they feel they are disappointing to friends and family, obese, too thin, etc.!;
There was a Previous suicide attempt (pill over-dose, hangings, Russian Roulette, driving fast and aimlessly!;
Some may have experienced the death of a close family or friend, divorce, did not make the "team," low/failing grades, public embarrassment by family/friends, broken relationships (girl/boyfriends)!;
Some may be involved in alcohol/drug use/activity and believe it is out of their control!;
HOW DO YOU HELP?:
Never agree to help keep suicide signs a secret from adults or professionals who can intervene!;
Speak immediately to school counselors!;
Recognize that discrimination affects youth, too!;
Believe it, DEPRESSION is a silent killer!;
Know and contact a youth crisis HOTLINE in your region (Maryland: 1-800-422-0009)!;
Never try to solve the problem alone!!!
"It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive." ~ James Baldwin.
"People can be slave-ships in shoes." ~ Zora Neale Hurston
"'Black Pain" encourages us to face the truth about the issue that plunges our spirits into darkness, so that we can step into the healing light. (We) are not on the ledge alone." ~ Terrie M. Williams
Visit the Stay Strong Foundation for youth advocacy and mentoring at
www.blackpain.org; Visit the National Institute of Mental Health at
www.nimh.org; the National Institute on Health at
www.nih.org; the National Alliance on Mental Illness at
www.nami.org; the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation at
www.bpkids.org; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Mortality Statistics at
www.cdc.gov/ncipc/osp/usmort.htm; and
Suicide Prevention Education Awareness for Kids (SPEAK) at
www.speakforthem.org Agnes B. Levine
Author of: "Cooling Well Water: A Collection of Work By An African-American Bipolar Woman" ISBN 0975461206 Winter 2008 Release Pending
www.myspace.com/coolingwellwater (Subscribe Now)
Founder/President: Levine-Oliver Publisher, the Exclusive publishing home of Swaggie Coleman. Visit Swaggie's Voice© at:
http://swaggiecoleman.blogspot.com and win prizes!
Today, I wish the teen suicide rate among African-American youth drops significantly!
Posted By: agnes levine
Wednesday, October 8th 2008 at 7:27PM
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