What’s the point?
You ever find yourself asking that?
The point of this playlist is to bring succor to people who are grieving. That’s it. We listen to and feature songs that we hope people can resonate with and perhaps elicit a cathartic release – at the very least – to help them feel less alone.
September is Suicide Awareness month – each week, along with our beautiful track of the month, we have featured a song that addresses suicide – that forced us to write about it and go out on social media to join the hashtagged ranks of others who are also working to raise visibility and reduce the stigma surrounding suicide.
And yet – this month is also Library Card Sign-Up Month, it’s Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, it’s Piano Month and Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, it’s Chicken Month and Honey Month, it’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Read A New Book Month. It’s also Sourdough September!
With so much going on in the world – so much information – so much “content” – it’s hard to focus on just one thing – its almost impossible to break through the noise and make a difference – it’s tempting to sit back and say “what’s the point?’ and of course – it’s tempting to – well – you know – give up.
All this month I’ve been looking at the suicide hashtags on Twitter – there are hundreds and thousands of tweets from organizations working to raise awareness and we’ve put our weight behind them too – but you know the Tweets that stick with me – the ones that make me double down on this list and what we do in September – it’s the ones from people who have survived suicide attempts.
I woke up this morning with the phrase “A permanent solution to a temporary problem” running round my head and i’ve been thinking of those people who didn’t die. I’ve been thinking of what they write – and it’s pretty much unanimous in what they say – in that – they’re glad – they’re so grateful that they survived – that their life did eventually change – that life did get better and that they feel lucky that they made it through.
And while early followers of this list will recognize that we’ve featured this track before – I can’t think of a better song to end September with.
Here’s the number and link to The Samaritans UK
From any phone just dial – 116 123
https://www.samaritans.org/
Here’s the link to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
1-800 273 8255
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
