NEW CHALLENGES

STARTING OVER

My world has changed significantly since I made the decision to actively get involved as a suicide prevention advocate. I had no plan to get into suicide awareness as a way of life. And it did not start gradually. It jumped into my life. This seems to be God’s plan for me. It started with the publication of Bonded A Brother’s Love, then being followed almost immediately by not one, but by several closely related suicides. This was a calling, and a time consuming calling. But who am I? I’m not an influencer. I’m not an actor or politician, people aren’t going to listen to me. I’m just a seventy year old man that has been dealing with the aftermath of a sibling’s suicide for the last fifty-seven years. Doing this right was going to take time and effort, so my biggest challenge was within myself. I never do anything half way, I needed to dedicate all of my time to such an important cause. That brought on the need to retire and learn to deal with far less income. I can do it, I want and need to do it, and anything worth doing is worth doing right.  

KNOWING HOW TO DEAL WITH SUICIDE

I thought I knew everything I needed to know about suicide. But how wrong I was. I didn’t even know everything I needed to know about my own brother’s suicide. I knew the circumstances leading up to it, and I knew my own personal reaction to it. But I didn’t even really know how the rest of my family had dealt with it. We all stayed silent. I have had short conversations with friends that have involved more time talking about the suicide than the combined time I had spent discussing it with my immediate family in the last fifty-seven years.

LEARNING THE LAY OF THE LAND

There are many programs that have been dealing with suicide prevention and the aftermath of suicides for decades. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) was established in 1987 and is known nationally for their work. Camp Hope in Houston, Texas is another big one. And then there are dozens of social media groups with hundreds of thousands of members actively involved in healing everyday. Last on that list would be me, new to the world of suicide awareness. Learning the proper etiquette of how to say that my brother took his own life in the most horrific way imaginable. While never meaning to compare either the scene or the relationship and love that has been taken away.

WHERE DO I FIT

That has really been a lifelong question for me. In some ways I am seventy years old, I was born in January of 1956. But then I was reborn in the most mentally challenging way on the day of his suicide in 1968. I was never able to find a way to fit with normal people, not the other twelve year old students, not even my own family after that. So the challenge now is where do I fit in with suicide awareness, both pre-suicide advise or post suicide consolation. Not wanting to compare tragedies, but needing to express my overwhelming  connection to my brother and the horrific scene I walked into, just so others can get an idea of what brought on the debilitating reaction I had to it. That description does not set well within the normal consoling process for other that have lost loved ones. But to be truthful my book, and my goal is a lot more about telling the truth to stop a meaningless suicide before it happens than it is to console the survivors. There is some of that within what I say and write, but my real goal is to save lives, and I think that needs the hard truth to be told.

THE FINAL CHALLENGE

So that brings me to the final challenge for myself. I know suicides are accomplished in many different ways. Most of which are not near as grotesque as the scene I walked into and many suicide victims are not discovered by their closest living relative. I’m not trying to reach just the people that are considering shooting themselves in the head. I think that would be an easy task for me. Read the book, Bonded A Brother’s Love, that is what it is about. I am trying to reach all people considering suicide as their final path. Be the plan to go quietly, by poison, over dose or exhaust fumes. Or those that are not worried a bit about what their loved ones will see. The pain that is left for all of us is the same. Never-ending, everlasting, transferred to us by the person that could no longer bear to hang on. Don’t get me wrong, there are ways to ease the pain, but it will always exist and you will always get reminders along the way. But you can live through it and you need to live through it, the last thing your loved ones need is to lose a second person they care about to grief.

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**Reach out to me at any time. 

I am not only willing, but I also look forward to taking a share of your pain. Email: David@bondedabrotherslove.com. You will get a caring same day response.

Nothing scripted.   

You are not alone, and you matter.

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If You’re Struggling

If you or someone you love or know is in a dark place, please know you’re not alone and there is help available. Reaching out is a sign of strength, not weakness. There are people ready to listen, ready to walk with you, and ready to help.

Immediate assistance is available:

National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline  

📞 988

Veterans Crisis Line  

📞 1-800-273-8255 (Press 1) | 📱 Text 838255

Survivor Support / Crisis Group  

🌐 https://www.crisishotline.org  📞 832-416-1177

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💡 If you know someone who needs to hear that they are not alone, share this story. Together, we can create echoes of hope that outlast the pain.

For more than five decades, I carried this story in silence. Silence nearly broke me, but telling it is what keeps hope alive.

Bonded: A Brother’s Love : One Bullet. A Thousand Echoes my hope is that it offers understanding, connection, and even a reason to hold on when life feels unbearable.

📖 Order your copy today and join me in breaking the silence. Together we can spread hope, honor the lost, and change the future.