A Battle For Life
By Steve Gahagen
There has been a surge of teenage suicides in my community. Young people cutting their lives short is tragic and heartbreaking, leaving families devastated with unanswered questions. It is the epicenter of despair - kids with so much ahead of them - but seeing no hope or path to the future - the darkness so overwhelming, one cannot see a way out.
Suicides among middle schoolers (ages 10-14) has doubled for boys and tripled for girls over the last twenty years, according to Psychology Today. And although we enjoy a level of luxury that would have been unimagined fifty years ago, depression has increased astronomically. We seem to be in a battle for life.
I recently went with my mom into a high-end grocery store with all the hot and cold food items one could possibly imagine. She is 88. I asked her what she would have thought had she wandered into a grocery store like that when she was a kid. Her family struggled for survival on a farm in western Pennsylvania. The abundance of food in that grocery story would have seemed like Disneyland in her childhood. Yet that abundance has not made us increasingly happy as a society.
At Play To Your Strengths we offer school mentoring clubs and an evening Connect program that is strengths-based. Our goal is to help students see that they have talents that the world needs them to use to make a positive difference. Through building relationships and guiding students to develop disciplines to enable them to view themselves through a strengths lens, we help students see that there is purpose and meaning to their lives. We all need to know that we have something to bring and that the world would be at a loss if we left our talents on the sidelines.
Questions to consider
Can you think of an adult who encouraged you and helped you see that you had value when you were young? You might want to write them a note or send them a text, thanking them.
Why do you think so many young people are struggling with despair in our culture?
How could you help a young person know they are valued and that they have talents they could use to make a positive difference in the world? Think of someone now you could reach out to today.