World Suicide Prevention Day

to know that beneath the statistics are real people,

real hearts, real pain, and minds that fought to stay,

real stories that were never meant to end this way.

to invite compassion for what we cannot fully know,

and gentleness for stories not our own.

for suicide is not selfish, it is death by depression.

the final symptom, a final collapse,

and an ache to silence pain.

and those who are suicidal deserve more than silence,

more than guilt. more than shame.

to feel their own life is worth living,

and not only to prevent others' pain.

to know that you matter,

you are worthy of love without condition,

and a life beyond pain.

to hold on, if you can,

and let others hold you, if it doesn't feel okay.

and when it feels there is no way forward,

let this truth remain,

that your worth is innate,

forever, always, and unchanging,

and it remains,

here, simply because you are.