The Inability to Live

The axiom that there is no greater loss than the loss of a child is only partially true. An even greater loss is to lose a child to suicide. I write these words with conviction and the authority of one who has stood side by side with a dear friend who lost her daughter to this gut wrenching disease a year ago. Horrifically and inexplicably it has happened again to another friend. We cry, we suffer, we ask, why? why? why? Two young people, good people, smart, talented, successful, gone.
A beautiful young woman loved dearly by her family came to the decision that she had lost her ability to live. To those of us who are rational, rooted in life, we cannot understand. We want to know if she realized how this would destroy her family. My belief is she knew, but it wasn’t enough to overcome her inability to live.
A young man In his last year of medical school, a giver, a nurturer, a scholar, could not continue his life. His mother said, we are wrecked, I only want to turn back time.
Two families destroyed, two mothers who will always remember their child’s first moments on earth and hold dear the memory of the first time they held that child. Even this, the deepest human bond, is not strong enough to preserve a child who can no longer live. So we come together as a community, we offer support and prayers. We hang on to the only hope left, that these families will be reunited by God one day and all will find peace.