Of course it’s not your job to keep people from committing suicide! Or is it? I know, as a therapist, people can talk about killing themselves all they want to in the therapy session, but once they say, “Hey, thanks for everything, I’m out of here (going to kill myself),” then it is my legal obligation to do whatever it takes to keep that person from killing him or herself. I resent the heck out of that. That is so crazy to me, or is it?
Well, I decided today to stop bearing the burden alone. It is up to EVERYONE of us to keep people from killing themselves. Of course, people have free will. Of course, people are going to continue to kill themselves. And I’m not talking about taking over the responsibility of your significant other’s pain pills and dishing them out so they won’t overdose because they do overdose every time they have a chance. Go to Nar anon, now! Contrary to what you think I have said so far, it is not our responsibility to keep someone else alive UNLESS.
So here is the UNLESS.
Begin by asking yourself, why are so many folks in our country, in our immediate family, in our extended family, in our circle of friends ADDICTED to every and anything including food, television, exercise, church, sex, gambling, drugs, pills, alcohol, facebook, ad infinitum?
Begin by asking yourself a similar question. Why am I ADDICTED to everything including.....?
Begin listening to every word that comes out of your mouth. Dom Miguel Ruiz in The Four Agreements invites us to be impeccable in our word. Powerful invitation. What are we saying to our infants? Remember, they cannot process the words, but they process the emotion from seven months in the womb. Yes, I am not making that up.
What do we say to our toddlers when we are frustrated with them? What are we saying to our school age children especially when we are under the influence of our own addiction? Listen to yourself.
What are we saying to our teenagers? What are we saying to our significant others when they put on weight, when they fall apart for whatever reason, when they don’t measure up?
What do we say to ourselves when we look in the mirror each morning or do we avoid looking in the mirror like the plague?
What do we say to our neighbors who look, think, and believe differently from us? What do we say about different people when we are under the influence of our own addiction?
What do we say to our children whom we continue to righteously sacrifice to the gods of war? President Obama ought to be ashamed of himself for using Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg as a center peace for justifying war. I am glad Cory received such an amazing standing ovation, BUT. Yes, BUT. Instead of thanking him for defending our freedoms which is bull, we should be on our hands and knees APOLOGIZING that we are willing to sacrifice our children because we are too ignorant to resolve conflict other than the archaic means of going to war. Come on, folks, don’t be stupid here. Read your history, especially the last 100 years. War has accomplished nothing. Economic investment has, and guess why Iran is even willing to talk a little bit. They want their money!! Best move we ever made. What an effective weapon! Much more powerful than saber rattling or any other kind of gun, bullet, missile, bomb, troops, tanks. Nothing matches the power of MONEY! And it is money that drives us into war, NOT FREEDOM. Get a grip and use your intelligence, for crying out loud. It’s not difficult to figure out. Right, Mr. Cheny?
And if you want to play the Hitler card, then by all means, know your history. Learn how much American money actually supported Hitler. Yes! Learn how Hitler was inevitable because of our revenge mentality after World War I. Look at the fact that 532 California veterans over age 80 committed suicide between 2005 and 2008. Check it out!
YES. There’s a lot here that none of us want to look at. Of course not, because then we would have to take on a new kind of responsibility.
Then look at the medical industry. Why is it that people with chronic pain become addicted? PILLS, pills that make us feel really really good. I know of only one, and there maybe others, pain management program that teaches pain management without ANY DRUGS. This is not a commercial, but it is part of the Betty Ford Center in Palm Springs. There you learn how to use the most powerful drugs available. The ones in YOUR BRAIN.
Let’s go back to what comes out of our mouths. And let’s expand that to what comes out of my eyes, my body language in general, my heart, my mind. What am I doing today to create a climate around myself where in the people I know, the people I meet, the people I bump into, the people I stand next to in the check out line, the people I am driving behind on the freeway, the people I LOVE, WHAT AM I DOING TO CREATE A CLIMATE WHEREIN ALL THOSE PEOPLE ARE BOMBARDED WITH A DESIRE TO BE ALIVE AND TO LIVE?
Obviously, there was not a rich enough climate, maybe going back years and years, to generate that desire to live for Philip Seymour Hoffman. We have work to do, folks. Will you join me? Will you become conscious of the life-giving or the death-giving climate that you create around yourself today? When it comes to the climate that we create around ourselves, most of us could use some climate change and global warming! THANK YOU FOR LISTENING and really THANK YOU FOR DECIDING TO MAKE A CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE.
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