Suicide – Kingsjester's Blog

“Suicides among the youngest U.S. teenagers were rising for years before the pandemic — with school stress, social media and guns standing as potential factors, according to a new study.

Researchers found that between 2008 and 2018, the suicide rate among 13- and 14-year-olds nationwide more than doubled — from roughly two deaths per 100,000 teens in 2008, to five per 100,000 a decade later.

It was a stark reversal of a decline that began in the late-1990s.

And, in fact, suicide is now the leading cause of death for 13- and 14-year-olds in the United States…” (Courtesy Newsmax.com)

Guns? Guns can not fire themselves, nor can they personally interact with human beings on their own.

The fact of the matter is that kids are not getting the attention they need at home, and they’re not getting the non-political support that they need at school.

Nowadays, it takes both parents working in order to afford the basic necessities needed to raise a family.

That leaves very little time for the raising of a child. With children not getting the attention they need at home, they are naturally turning to the social media, the school, and their peers.

Public schools have become, for the most part, centers for the dissemination of Cultural Marxist propaganda designed to “make children think in a politically correct manner.”

Their friends can offer their opinions. However, they are being fed the same propaganda.

Nowadays, the majority of kids spend most of their time texting on their phones with other kids, playing video games, and talking about other students.

Kids today do not grow up playing outside and learning interpersonal communication skills.

In other words, they don’t know how to resolve conflict face-to-face, and they have never found out firsthand that there are actual real-world consequences for talking ugly and spreading false rumors about someone.

Even though they are communicating with each other electronically, kids today are living in isolation.

They have not learned how to be kind to one another.

They have not learned empathy.

Somehow, someway, parents and students need to start learning how to communicate with one another face-to-face.

Make no mistake. The family unit, as we know it, is under attack.

Pray for our kids.

Pray for our families.

Until He Comes,

suicide Several years ago, this next week, my wife at the time, received a phone call from one of her best friends. Her husband, the father of her two boys, had killed himself.

I could not believe it. This guy was solid as a rock. He was in his early 30s and was working as an Air Traffic Controller. The young man was an American success story. He had dropped out of high school, obtained his GED, and went on to serve in the Coast Guard. Through his hard work and diligence, he had worked himself into his well-playing position at the airport.

The young man had everything to live for. He had a beautiful home, a beautiful, loving wife, and two boys, one in 6th grade and one in Junior High, who worshiped the ground he walked on.

What no one knew was the burden which he carried in his heart. The young man suffered from severe depression. He had been diagnosed and given medication for it, which worked well, and kept him on an even keel.

Unfortunately, he decided to quit taking his medicine, because he was afraid that it would show up on one of the random drug tests at work, and, being an Air Traffic Controller, they would fire him, if his illness and medication were discovered.

While he was off his medication, his personality completely changed. He became addicted to gambling, leaving his widow a gambling debt of $180,000, which, thank goodness, the casinos forgave, rather than trying to collect from his widow.

He also became addicted to porn, which did nothing but help him sink further into that dark corner of the soul where depression comes from, and where Satan can sink his claws of despair deep into your soul.

When the young man had reached the end of his rope, he hatched the plan which lead to his demise. He went to Home Depot and bought some white plastic pipe, until the pretense of using it to alleviate flooding in his yard.

What followed was chilling. Working nights, as he did, his family was used to his being around during the day. While his wife was out of town, taking care of her Father, who had undergone bypass surgery, the young man carried out his plan. Seeing the boys off to school that fateful morning, he jumped into his
Chevrolet S10 pick-up truck, and headed to one of his favorite fishing holes, down by the Tunica, MS Casinos. Once there, he attached the plastic pipe he bought to the exhaust pipe of his truck, put insulation around his car windows, put in a cassette tape of his favorite songs, and checked out.

He was buried two days later…on his wife’s birthday.

It was the most selfish act I have ever seen.

I was reminded of that tragedy, after hearing about this…

Kansas City linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, then drove to the Chiefs’ facilities at Arrowhead Stadium and took his own life in front of some team employees, including coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli, on Saturday morning.

Police told the Kansas City Star that Belcher, 25, and Perkins got into an argument at approximately 7:00 a.m. Saturday at a residence in nearby Independence, Mo. Belcher shot Perkins multiple times. She was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead there. The couple had a 3-month-old daughter, who is currently safe in the care of a relative.

Members of the Chiefs’ staff tried to stop Belcher from committing any other acts of violence before the player turned a gun on himself. The team’s practice facility was evacuated and put on police lockdown.

The Chiefs were scheduled to host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, and the team has announced on its official site that the game will proceed as scheduled.

“After discussions between the league office, Head Coach Romeo Crennel and Chiefs team captains, the Chiefs advised the NFL that it will play tomorrow’s game vs. the Carolina Panthers at its originally scheduled time.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Chiefs and the families and friends of those who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a league statement. “We have connected the Chiefs with our national team of professional counselors to support both the team and the families of those affected. We will continue to provide assistance in any way that we can.”

Perkins’ mother called police after witnessing the incident and told them that her daughter had been shot. Police arrived at the Chiefs’ facility only to find Belcher in the parking lot with a gun to his head. As one officer got out of his car, he heard a gunshot. Belcher was later pronounced dead. Pioli, Crennel, and defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs were among the team employees in the vicinity. Belcher reportedly thanked Crennel and Pioli for all they had done for him, and then took his own life.

“Pioli and Crennel and another coach or employee was standing outside and appeared to be talking to him. It appeared they were talking to the suspect,” Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp said. “The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that’s when they heard the gunshot.

“They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they’d done for him. They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That’s when he walked away and shot himself.”

Two successful young men, with everything to live for, allowing the demons of depression to drive them to suicide.

The are no easy answers.

There, but for the Grace of God, and the love of Christ, go you or I.

Hold on to your faith. Hold on to hope. Hold on to God. We will get through these tough times…together.

Until He Comes,

Kingsjester's Blog

Tag: Suicide

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