Preface

Back when I still taught high schoolers, there was a contemporary occurrence. It was a matter of supreme importance. In Texas incidents of students committing suicide with alarming frequency. Worse still was that students elsewhere were duplicating this behavior. That included the school where I taught. I and another teacher saw our students showing up with cuts on their wrists, necks, and other parts of their anatomy. These students spoke of their unhappiness and efforts as well as intentions to kill themselves. Of course we referred them to the school counselors. However, our direct contact with these students showed the counseling wasn't effective.
This teacher and I jointly made arrangements for a local facility specializing in children's mental health to provide professional group counseling. The individual made available to us was absolutely fantastic in how he refocused our students minds, combining short lectures, individual and group activities, and self-analysis. The kids related to him. When he was done, these kids some in tears, some smiling, all with stern determination created plans of action for coping with their individual
issues.
As a follow up, I wrote this story. The English teachers
used it as an in class supervised required reading exercise. I was advised that students responded very well. I even had counselors telling me they wish they had read the story earlier so as to better help the students. After letting this short story languish all these years, I decided to put it in book form. Hopefully, it will reach any person, who is contemplating suicide to cast the concept aside for all time.
I strongly advise parents to also read this book and discuss it with their children. Especially those who have even passively mentioned committing the act. Or knew someone who did. Or asked questions about suicide. If only one person listens, it's worth it.