sharing your survivor story

Lindsay Lohan was arrested again; Driving intoxicated, suspended license, and possession of cocaine and transport of a narcotic. How sad!

I don't say "how sad" because she is a talented actress, because I don't know if I have ever seen her act. I say "how sad" because she is a person who is struggling with life. Life is sometimes hard and self medicating doesn't help--in the long run. It helps one cope for a few minutes, but the not for long.

Although Lohan is 21, what would you guess is the average age for kids to start experimenting with drugs? The age has dropped every decade since the 1960's. Today's kids start at age 12 according to Dr. David Deitch who is an addiction specialist and the clinical director of Phoenix House.

Many people have weighed in with why Lindsay continues to do what she does. Here are some of the suggestions:
1. Spoiled kid
2. Bad family life
3. No one tells her no
4. Pressure of the industry

How about pain, or poor coping skills, or being addicted? It would seem to me the reason people self-medicate is to deal with pain. It is the reason I have self-medicated. If you have ever self-medicated it may have been your reason too.

My prayer is that Lindsay will get the help she needs and find some relief from the pain, before it is too late. What are the chances she will look in the right place? Peace.

It was a small group for a community of fifty thousand people, but it was a fervent group with a purpose. Their mission was to prevent another family from being forever changed by a suicide.

Not everyone told their stroy but for those who did, it was a familiar one to those attending. Life was going along normal and then a choice was made by their loved one to end his/her life. There was the usual shock and surprise then trying to make sense of it all.

I came away learning a lot, and I felt I already knew more than I ever wanted to know.

The purpose of the meeting for the survisors was to take the pain they had experienced and share it in some way, so that no one else would have to go through what they went through. For all of you that made this meeting happen--I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Peace.

Since suicide happens so frequently in America, an attempt every minute of every day, and a success every seventeen minutes, the American public is pretty callous to suicide. But a murder, another murder, and a suicide does garner some attention, especially since one of the victims was a seven yrs old.

Chris Benoit, a professional wrestler, killed his wife, his son, and then took his own life last weekend. The killings were spread out over several days. How very sad!

The discussion on most televisions were about why; Some said it was roid rage, others said he was your typical male control freak who could not stand to lose his family. So he killed them.

The really sad thing to me, is that this will soon be forgotten when it fades from the headlines. We won't see anything on Oprah, or the other entertainment shows about this. This is too real life. They will continue to have shows about celebrities or eating the correct food to lose weight. And even if they had a guest who had once experienced a suicide (a celebrity of course) the focus would not be suicide. This was the case when Anderson Cooper's mom was on Oprah. Anderson's brother had taken his life years ago. The suicide only got a quick mention. I have emailed Oprah a couple of times to encourage her to do a week of shows on Suicide--guess what--not even a reply.

Why? Suicide is a dirty word. Suicide is too frightening to even mention on mainstream television. It can't be more than just headlines, or that would indicate that we as a society would have to acknowledge it exists. And then or course we would have to deal with it. There will be no chance for peace in our society until then! No peace!