I’m a morning person. I love mornings and usually I’m very energetic. I arrive to work and make sure to greet everybody and wish them a great day ahead. Today however, I was met with silence almost as soon as I came in.
For you to have some background, we at the company work in close conjunction with another company (regulators) that revises what we do and, make sure we are following the appropriate applicable policies in our business area. We use specialized software to communicate with the employees from the other company in a per case scenario. We communicate using a comments log within each file for the cases we handle. We see the name, date and time of the person that comments before us and, each comment constitutes a review of the file. We don’t know who the other person is, how they look, their aspirations or their intentions. We only know their name.
Today morning I was informed that one of the employees for this fellow company committed suicide.
I’ve been thinking about it all day. The story of this person, I don’t know. I don’t know what brought this person to this end. I don’t know this person by anything else that his name. I only know his work but, what if this was a loved one? What if this was friend? What if this was someone I work closely with?
Now when I see his name it just fills me with sadness. I didn’t know this person at all. I won’t see his name anymore and I know why. He wasn’t fired, he didn’t quit, he didn’t get promoted, he is no longer with us.
This brought me to realize more than ever that even though I work with a lot of people on the daily, I don’t know much about them. I don’t know if they are struggling, I don’t know their aspirations. I only know myself and a few close friends who have shared their stories with me and, even for them I don’t know it all.
If you have a friend, co-worker, family member or any one you know that might need help please let them know about it. Please direct them towards it and give them your support. Let them know that even though it can be hard, there is always a way to move forward, there is always a way to find meaning in living, that we are meaningful and that there are professionals who can help in these scenarios. I’m saddened by this person’s death. All I can do at this point is write this with pain in my heart hoping it reaches someone that might need it. I’m sure this person will be missed.
Suicide prevention hotline: 1-800-273-8255
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