Again, thank you all for your kind words.
Tomorrow is the OUT OF THE DARKNESS walk here in Austin, Texas. This walk is designed to help promote suicide prevention awareness. It is held every year in many, many different cities. The walk this year in Austin has already raised almost $80,000 (US) for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I am going to be at this walk, with my team of supporters, and with a booth/table where we will be passing out prevention awareness literature and we will be running a free raffle to give away a couple of brand new guitars to kids/teens in attendance. The guitars are donated to us by various stores and guitar companies and they are custom branded with our logo and a picture of my son on each one.
The largest issue that "suicide" faces is the stigma that includes shame, accusations that it is selfish, and ignorance overall. We all accept cancer and other diseases, but people still seem afraid to accept that depression is a serious matter. I aim to change that through many things - most of which I won't discuss here, but all with very powerful and long term destinations. For those of you here who suffer depression and suicidal thoughts, I understand and I want other people to understand. I know that the saying, "Things get better," bothers many... and that's not what I am here to say. My mission and goal is to make communities aware of the plight of individuals who are suffering and to try to help build better avenues for support.
My son did not die in vain.
. We have to have faith that what looks like the end is actually not the end as we previously would have said, but the start of something new. It helps us redefine our outlook on so many things.
