I was looking for something to write about on the subject of inspiration since we are in the seasons of Passover and Holy Week. I really did not want to get into the very personal religious aspects of inspiration so I looked up the “Top 12 Inspirational Rock Songs”. I am certain each of us already has a favorite and one that blasts from the shower and over the noise of the vacuum cleaner. I am also pretty sure the song changes with any life adjustment and age, of course.
Anyway, we are Suicide Survivors so what better song than Queen’s “We Are the Champions”? Here is just one section:
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world
Admittedly, it is not very Easter or Passover-like, but it has a lot of other things going for it. You can’t resist the beat and people seem to be able to learn the words [if only the refrain] pretty quickly or if they have been to enough youth sports’ events.
Since it is Spring and time for renewal, I would like to name every suicide survivor, a CHAMPION. Our fight often can be against our own feelings of confusion, guilt, anger, anguish, despair, etc. or it can be against a world of people who barely understand the idea of PTSD grief if not experienced first hand.
Even after we have melted down to the point of jelly, we pick ourselves back up for another day, a day toward the time when it might hurt even the tiniest bit less. We pick up our loved ones’ legacies and carry the fire with grace and determination. When we fall, our fellow champions pick us up more than one time, very often.
We all have lost one or more most precious and loved people. Yet we ourselves are not “losers”. The struggle to make the suicide survival journey is as grueling as they come. I believe it is in our clenched-teeth determination to keep going that makes us champions.
Each time we politely and thoroughly explain suicide to someone else, we become champions for the cause of Suicide Awareness. Some of us are able to save a life even for a stranger in that capacity.
So when someone says something hurtful or inaccurate or insensitive, remember you are the champion.
And I can’t resist: “We will, we will rock you.” If not today, one day ...
Enjoy the spring!

