Suicide is silent! Suicide is a secret only shared within oneself. As Albert Camus wrote, “Suicide is prepared within the silence of the heart.”

Suicide is death by sadness, planned in secret and is silent. How silent is suicide? Remember the week a few years ago when Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain killed themselves? Their deaths made worldwide news for days. During that same weeks thousands of people died by suicide – and there was silence, not a word.

But suicide is not silent to those who lost a loved one to suicide. No death destroys the heart and soul of a family as does suicide – because no death brands a family with a stigma so penetrating and painful. And it leaves loved ones with wounds that never heal and hearts that never mend – with days and nights spent suffering in silence.

Suicide is extremely difficult to prevent because it “is prepared within the silence of the heart.” Camus also wrote, “there is only one truly philosophical problem and that is suicide.”

God help us but we must do what we can to prevent suicide. Not just to save lives but to save loved ones from suffering the pain inflicted by suicide.

By: Thomas Truelson