I found out yesterday that a guy I used to know killed himself this week. He jumped off his balcony during the early hours of Monday morning and now, he’s left a trail of friends and family in complete devastation.
He was the good friend of a guy I dated about six years ago. I didn’t know him well but, I always remember really liking him and really enjoying his company. He was kind and energetic and his death has rocked the very core of my foundation.
It breaks my heart to know that he was in such a desperate place that he felt he had no other option but eternal darkness.
Finding out about Martin’s death has caused me to really contemplate the priorities that our society has towards mental health and the system that we have in place for such challenges. In a time when cancer and obesity are becoming epidemic in nature, we seem to be consumed with the quest for health when the real threat to our life is our mind. As Martin and many others have shown, perfect health means nothing when your thoughts and emotions compel you to take your own life.
Many people in my life have been touched by suicide about as much as they have been affected by cancer and yet, it’s never occurred to anyone that one may have something to do with the other. I think that many people would agree that the capacity of the human mind far outweighs the capabilities of Western medicine. While it’s certainly a splendor of what humanity can do, it can also become a force far greater than what we are capable of managing. In the same way that we are taught how to manage and treat our bodies, we need to have the resources to understand the inner workings of our most powerful tool.
Preventative medicine needs to extend beyond the likes of vitamins and dental check-ups. We need to spend more time with family and friends, and less time in the office. We need to spend more time communicating with each other and less time communicating with our cell phones. We need to spend more time sitting in silence and less time sitting in traffic. We need to spend more time praying and less time complaining. We need to make sure that parents never have to bury their children due to this kind of torment ever again. In turn, not only will we nurture the mind, but our bodies will follow.
I’ve heard it been said that 99% of all illness is a result of stress. With that being said, the cure to cancer doesn’t lie in a laboratory, it lies in our own ability to find joy and peace in a rather unforgiving world. The human mind can resolve what a test tube cannot. With that being said, perhaps the cure to disease lies in finding the cure to dis-ease.
Rest in Peace, Martin. You will be missed.
He was the good friend of a guy I dated about six years ago. I didn’t know him well but, I always remember really liking him and really enjoying his company. He was kind and energetic and his death has rocked the very core of my foundation.
It breaks my heart to know that he was in such a desperate place that he felt he had no other option but eternal darkness.
Finding out about Martin’s death has caused me to really contemplate the priorities that our society has towards mental health and the system that we have in place for such challenges. In a time when cancer and obesity are becoming epidemic in nature, we seem to be consumed with the quest for health when the real threat to our life is our mind. As Martin and many others have shown, perfect health means nothing when your thoughts and emotions compel you to take your own life.
Many people in my life have been touched by suicide about as much as they have been affected by cancer and yet, it’s never occurred to anyone that one may have something to do with the other. I think that many people would agree that the capacity of the human mind far outweighs the capabilities of Western medicine. While it’s certainly a splendor of what humanity can do, it can also become a force far greater than what we are capable of managing. In the same way that we are taught how to manage and treat our bodies, we need to have the resources to understand the inner workings of our most powerful tool.
Preventative medicine needs to extend beyond the likes of vitamins and dental check-ups. We need to spend more time with family and friends, and less time in the office. We need to spend more time communicating with each other and less time communicating with our cell phones. We need to spend more time sitting in silence and less time sitting in traffic. We need to spend more time praying and less time complaining. We need to make sure that parents never have to bury their children due to this kind of torment ever again. In turn, not only will we nurture the mind, but our bodies will follow.
I’ve heard it been said that 99% of all illness is a result of stress. With that being said, the cure to cancer doesn’t lie in a laboratory, it lies in our own ability to find joy and peace in a rather unforgiving world. The human mind can resolve what a test tube cannot. With that being said, perhaps the cure to disease lies in finding the cure to dis-ease.
Rest in Peace, Martin. You will be missed.
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