FU"$%ING PERFECT...

World suicide prevention day, observed worldwide on September 10th promotes commitment, creates awareness and encourages actions to prevent it; on average it is estimated that around 3000 people commit suicide daily.

Suicide is, as a matter of fact the major preventable cause for premature death and gay bullying, one of the main causes for teen suicide. There are always signs and behavioural patterns that can give parents, teachers and people close to a person considering it, clues on whether it is being contemplated and how to prevent it.

I was listening today to P!nk’s song -the one this article is named after-but having never watched the video, decided to do so. The song speaks volumes, but along with the video it carries a powerful message that inspired me to write this article.

Like most gay teens, I had to go through the entire self acceptance process and come to terms with the fact that being gay was not entirely evil and that people’s definition of “normal” was somewhat narrow. Then you grow up and realize that new issues arise and are added; for some, the weight of  a number of problems can be too much to handle and most of the time, death seems like a comforting solution.

I have often assumed that, for most of the people in our virtual platform, second life is a comforting escape from our not so perfect RLs, Sadly and much like in RL, some things can push a person -even in our simulator- to consider stop trying; hence,whether you are a gay teenager who has been reprogrammed by bullying into a self destructing path, physically or mentally abused by your spouse or partner, or just going through difficult financial times in RL, know for certain that there is help in second life and RL, that there are non-profit organisations that are there to help you and that you are not alone or less than F**kin’ perfect. My life has -and sometimes still does- sucked beyond the telling of it, but I still wake up each day convinced that P!nk is right, no one or anything will ever convince me of the opposite.

https://www.turn2me.org/ (Online mental health support community)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/San%20Jose%20East/104/161/23 (in-world Suicide support community)

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls