It
certainly wasn’t what I was expecting to read when I opened the email from one
of my former English students:
Hey, I know this is
kind of out of the blue, but I just started songwriting. One of the songs I
wrote is about suicide. I hope to show people who experience suicidal thoughts
that there are people who love them, that suicide doesn’t get back at people
who’ve hurt them, that it hurts the people they’re closest to. If it's ok with
you, I would like to dedicate it to Jenna. I've included the lyrics for
you to read if you don't think it would be too painful. If it is, I completely
understand. I'm so sorry to throw this at you.
I
can’t think of anything more worth sharing for National Suicide Prevention
Month. The story within Olivia’s beautiful song is so powerful, so
heart-wrenching, so true. I urge you to take four minutes to listen to it. If only we could remember these
words when depression and lying suicidal thoughts arise, I believe far fewer lives would end
before their time.
Please stay,
Beth
by Olivia Henn
Several
years ago I attended a funeral which shouldn't have had to take place—at least
not for a very long time.
She was a
young teenager—beautiful, full of life, and a joy to everyone around her. Unfortunately,
she was the victim of some bullying at her school, and somewhere along the way
she lost hope.
Sadly, I
never had the opportunity to know her. Watching her pictures scroll across the
screen and hearing countless testimonies from all the people who loved her, I
could only cry and imagine the pain her family was going through. I was
much younger then and couldn’t understand why anyone who had touched the lives
of so many would ever take their own life.
Time
passed. During February of last year, I read Beth Saadati’s blog post “3 (or 13) Reasons Why Not: From One Left to Survive a Non-Fictionalized Suicide” in
response to the book and Netflix series Thirteen
Reasons Why. This inspired me to write my first song.