Sadness

Although Wisconsin ranks among states with "low" suicide rates, in the past few weeks I have been made aware that suicide is still very much with us. Locally I know of two suicide attempts and a third attempt that was successful, all in the last couple of months. The young man who did kill himself had been a volunteer for a variety of public service activities in the community, and that is how I knew him and his mother. He would have been in his third year of college this fall.

There may be other instances of which I am unaware. Even if there are none, it is hard to believe that we have three in such a small community. We aren't talking about big city pressures and problems. This is rural, small-town Midwestern America.

There is a program called "It Gets Better" designed to fight the high suicide rate among gay teenagers. Sounds to me like we need something for other young people, too.

Say a prayer for those who suffer and think there is no way out except through that dark door. You never know when it might be someone waiting on you at the hamburger joint or mowing the lawn down the street.