To Be A Hero

I've always wanted to be a hero.

   I've never been one to settle for mediocre; just living life and being a good person. I'm also a perfectionist. Go big or go home, and I've never been known as someone to give up and go home. So I strive and I strive hard. I'm constantly pushing myself and I'm never content with where I am because I want to be all that God has created me to be. Lately He's been teaching me about confidence and knowing who I am in Him. I can say boldly that I am a powerful person. How can I say that? Because I know that my power comes from the Holy Spirit in me, not by my own self. 2 Corinthians 10 taught me a lot about that.

   But that's straying from the point I want to make here. This week is Suicide Prevention Week and tomorrow is National Suicide Prevention Day. This is your chance to be a hero. How do you be a hero? Well, "heroes are made when we make a choice." (Hero, Superchick.) I asked my best friend how one goes about changing the world and her answer really stuck with me. She said "That's simple. One forgets his/her own wants and focuses on the needs of others." There's a choice you can make today to forget your wants and needs and look beyond yourself. I want to share my favorite part of the song I quoted earlier and I'll also share the lyric video on here because this is honestly one of my favorite songs and I want everyone in the world to hear it.

   "Little Mikey D was the one in class who every day got brutally harassed, this went on for years until he decided that never again would he shed another tear. So we walked through the door, grabbed the four-four out of his fathers dresser drawer and said 'I can't take life no more.' and like that a life could be lost. But this ain't even about that, all of us just sat back and watched it happen thinking 'its not our responsibility to solve a problem that isn't even about me.' This is our problem. This is just one of the daily scenarios which we choose to close our eyes instead of doing the right thing. When we make a choice to be the voice of those who won't speak up for themselves how many lives will be saved, changed, and rearranged? Now its our time to pick a side so don't keep walking by not wanting to intervene cause you just want to exist and never been seen. So lets wake up, change the world, our time is now."

   I hope you got the chills when you read that because I know I get them every time I hear that song. Because every line just sends a shiver up my spine. Especially at the part I underlined. See, we think the problem is Mikey, I mean, he was the one who went to kill himself right? Wrong. Our problem is the fact he was bullied and no one did anything about it. Words can kill. James 3 describes the tongue as a "restless evil full of deadly poison." We gotta learn how to watch what we say. We may not even realize that we're hurting someone else, so we need to be very conscious of our words and actions.

   One of my favorite movies has always been Hangmans Curse. Its not a big popular movie but it never fails to make me cry and I could recommend it to everyone. The entire movie you can just see how much pain these teenagers are in and at one point in the movie a kid tries to hang himself. I could go on a tangent about that movie but what I mean to say is that suicide is real. I've met a few people who have attempted it before and I know I'm thinking of them a ton this week and as I write this blog post I'm also writing letters and sending Facebook messages to those people to tell them how glad I am that they're in my life. They inspire me. When people have told me that they've tried taking their own life they always say that they hope I don't look down on them now but in fact, its the opposite. I really look up to those people. Because they've been in awful situations and have still pressed on even when they almost gave up. To be so close and still overcome it...that's a tremendous amount of strength.

   But the thing I want you guys to do now is to go out and make a difference. Go be a hero and stop waiting for someone else to step up, because this is your problem too. You may not think you know someone who is struggling but I didn't think I did either and boy was I mistaken. Treat everyone with love and respect because you never know who may need a kind word; and one simple kind word can save a life.

   And to all those who have/are struggling with suicide, I love you. God loves you. There is only one you in the entire world and you cannot be replaced. You are stronger than this. You are not alone.

Suicide Hotline - 1-800-784-2433