Throw a Rope Down

I always have a late reaction when told of a story that's not so easy to digest. Especially when it comes to sensitive issues, I need at least 24 hours to process what I heard or learned.

Last Monday, I visited my old office at the university where I worked at before taking the boards. I needed to get some papers signed by the dean, so I asked a former office mate of mine to accompany me to the College of Architecture Building. While walking the student-infested hallways of College of Social Sciences (then College of Liberal Arts,) I kept asking her about her boyfriend then, because at that time I was there, they were already 6 years together or something and was thinking of tying the knot. I asked what happened because I saw she has a new boyfriend from her facebook wall posts.

I saw the discomfort in her face when I kept prodding at her, she did not want to tell me. I asked if he got another girl pregnant or something. All my theories of why a couple breaks up. She said it would have been easier if that was the reason. When we finally reached the College of Engineering hallway, she finally told me the truth...





I stood there frozen, heart thumping and mouth slightly ajar. What happened next, I can vaguely remember.



It's sad that some people decide to end their lives because of depression, or who knows what their reasons for doing so. Just so sad to waste God's precious gift... But then again, maybe that was their solution for all the pain they were going through, finally putting an end to all misery. Who are we to judge?

I have a few encounters with suicide. I heard stories of distant relatives, friend of friends, strangers who committed it. Some, unsuccessful (which is a good thing!) others, not quite so.  A close friend of one my sisters was one of them. She even slept at our house the night before she pulled the trigger in their bathroom after kissing her son goodbye.

Sometimes you tend to blame yourself for not noticing the signs, the guilt eats you from inside. Sometimes you begin to hate yourself for being too caught up in your own misery that you fail to notice the people around you, that behind their seemingly strong facades, is already a desperate cry for help.

I believe we all have that tendency. It's a matter of getting the right support system that keeps us from drinking that poison or from pulling that trigger. When everything seems topsy turvy, and when everything's a mess, we need that something, or someone to cling to.

Experiences such as these change people, and for sure, scar them for life. I pray that someone out there notices, someone out there cares enough... that everyone will be saved... that life is too precious, too short to take it with our own hands.


I pray that someone will throw a rope down the abyss.