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If the man in these photos looks a little tired and very serious, it’s because this is serious. The following is a Public Service Announcement!

If you, or anyone around you in your life, seems to be having trouble coping with life, and particularly if they’ve expressed suicidal ideations, get help immediately. That is the best way you can help. Do not risk their life with your delusions that you have all the love and understanding they need to get through whatever it is they’re going through. You don’t. Get over yourself right away and get help. The link below has a lot of resources.

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/suicide-prevention.page

You are not a resource. You’re not a doctor. You’re not Jesus. Okay?

And for the record, I am not having any difficulty at all. Any word ending in ‘cidal’ is very low on my list of conditions and suicidal has never been one of them. Sure, there have been times when I’ve wished, in earnest, that I’d be struck down by a fucking meteor. There have been times when grief seemed endless. Maybe it’s a high tolerance for pain but suicide has never been in my repertoire of dark thoughts. It’s not on my menu of self-loathing.

But get help. I have to tell you also. I am not a resource. Refer to the link above before you ever bring me into an intervention. It’s not a lack of sympathy, nor lack of compassion, nor lack of empathy. That’s all there. What’s also there is a deep knowledge of my limitations. There are also very definitive boundaries protecting people from my limitations.

I don’t even want to get into the whole story of how a balls-naked man, who only an hour earlier had been talking about getting viewers to watch him hang himself on social media, ended up standing in the middle of my living room, all smiley and chatty. It wasn’t by my invitation. My exact words were: NO FUCKING WAY. DO NOT BRING HIM HERE.

I

AM

NOT

THE

ONE!

Still, there he was anyway talking matter of factly about how, yes, he was suicidal. And then he asks, “But we’re all suicidal, aren’t we?”

My answer: “No. As a matter of fact there is no we in this. It’s you. Most of us are definitely not suicidal. You need to get help. Get your clothes on and find it.”

This before he introduced himself. He also tried to introduce himself before putting his clothes on. I ignored the outstretched hand. I am not shaking hands with a naked, crazy person. Simply, no. First things first.

There’s a level of crazy that triggers me. It’s not something to be proud of. It’s just how it is. It’s a product of my own issues. You grow up amongst mental patients and there’s a good chance your response will always be fight or flight. Mine is usually fight. It didn’t help that it didn’t really seem like a threat of suicide for me, or even a cry for help. Another instinct of mine that’s highly developed as the result of an interesting upbringing is a nose for bullshit. My suspicion is that the talk of hanging himself on camera, while still fucking insane, was a desperate act of narcissistic manipulation. You may have experienced that in your life, a person that when nothing else is working, will go for the Hail Mary Pass as a means to an end. They will go to extremes.

STILL! I’m not going to take that chance with someone else’s life. My instinct told me to choke him the fuck out and see if he fights it, thanks me… or god forbid says yes daddy.

No.

Do not take a chance with another person’s life. Err on the side of caution, no matter how much it reeks of bullshit. I’m not a doctor either, and I’m sure as shit not Jesus. The whole affair did trigger me though. If this all seems somewhat angry, take it for what it is. In the fight or fight corner, fight is still my go-to. It takes a lot to get me there but that’s the truth of it.

And just for the record, dude is still alive but he’s not here.

Fuck it. Should you find yourself in any situation in any way similar to this, use the numbers above and probably after you call 911.