Walking

5 October was day 279 of 2024.  Year-to-date, 274 lives have been taken by suicide in Maine.  

Last Saturday, on the Eastern Prom, “we the people,” deplorables and elite gathered to meet, to give voice, to bear witness, and to walk in support of Suicide Prevention.    800 people walked 2.2 miles with the majestic Casco Bay stretched out around us.  

More than $120,000 was raised.  Under the name “Healing Life” our family raised $820.  We are eternally grateful for the support of our family and friends.  We all went the distance.  We all came together.  Actions speak louder than words and as a family we shall do this again, a repetitive routine exemplifying our commitment to community.  

In the early hours it rained, but the sun broke through.  Beads of many colors were passed out: White for loss of a child, Red for loss of a partner, Gold for loss of a parent, every color of the spectrum, every reason to support suicide prevention, even rainbow beads in support of LGBTQ.  One older man wore a rainbow shirt, that read, “Be a Good Human.”  So simple, yet so hard.  

We worked the raffle table, which was a chance to engage with many people.  One young child, age 6 perhaps, wore gold beads and a placard around their neck, bearing the single word, all caps, “DAD.”  The Mother, now a widow, struggled to pay, and we helped her through the digital payment.  As it turned out she won two raffle prizes.  

She was one among many, all touched by the dark sceptre of death by suicide.  Emotions were raw, so very hard to look life straight in the eye.  But we did.  We all did.  And we walked in support of a cause.  

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) funds scientific research and public policy advocacy on a national level.  AFSP Maine is one of a nationwide network of chapters, doing the grass roots work focusing on eliminating the loss of life from suicide.  Members of our community were recognized, stood up, each story of loss told.  It was gruesome, and yet, in our bearing witness hope was present.  

In the South Portland Public Schools a Director of Mental and Behavioral Health has been hired, and people from the National Alliance of Mental Health, the CDC and AFSP are lending a hand.  A team has been assembled and a community response is taking root.  Our task now is that such hope is nurtured and blossoms.  

I spoke to my daughter about my childhood, when shame reigned supreme, when no one would dare speak of suicide or mental health.  To put this in context, I spoke of my Grandmother, whose first born child, in 1923, died of SIDS at 21 days then was told by her Doctors, “just go home and forget about it.”  

As if.  

Long is the road to greater acceptance, to understanding, but on 5 October, along the eastern Promenade of Maine, 800 people walked 2.2 miles.  

Chairman Mao famously quoted the Taoist Master Lao Tzu, who said, in the 6th century BC, “the journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet.”   Let us now stand together, let us walk and go forward, let us heal, we the people.  Our childrens’ lives depend upon this simple truth. 

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In our gardens, our variety of Butternut Squash has been harvested; Tomatoes produce their last; Pole Beans come in this week; Cosmos finally sings aloud in chorus; Mums reside on the entry porch.

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And tonight, in the sky overhead, the Northern Lights showered above, a heart, it seems, in the first photo. Enjoy…