Teen suicide

Here's to the counselors and school personnel, including police, who are helping students cope with the suicide of a classmate. I'm not closley connected to the school system and don't have children at the high school, but I've been told that good and frequent help is being offered.

This is the second suicide in a year at ACHS. I can't remember a single one throughout my entire school years at Winfield High School. Teen suicide is a big problem these days and awareness and prevention are key. Whether this act could have been prevented only God knows, but certainly a boy doesn't kill himself based on one bad day or a single predicament.

As friends and community members, we may want to keep private the disclosures and signs of emotional problems out of respect, or to preserve our friendship with them. But there are times when somebody's safety outweights our friendship or their right to fight their inner demons alone.

At that point, we lovingly confront the person or inform another who is responsible or might be respoinsible for a hurting person. It might not change anything, but we will have done our part to be our brother's keeper.

I hope this doesn't sound too preachy. I'm certainly not a psychologist, and I suppose I'm writing it for myself as much as anybody else.