I have been asked to talk about suicide prevention at North Plainfield High School. The school is sponsoring a violence prevention week they are calling”Pathways to Peace.” The next few posts will contain the remarks I plan to make.

My job, as a Crisis Intervention Specialist with Children’s Mobile Response and Stabilization Services, is to de-escalate children and young people in crisis and refer them to services in the community that can help them with whatever problems they are having.

I’m here to talk with you today about preventing suicide. I’d like to begin with a story from a book called Peace Tales by storyteller Margaret Read MacDonald. The story is called “Not Our Problem,” and it goes like this:

The king sat with his adviser on the balcony of the palace eating honey on a cracker. As they ate they leaned over the rail and watched the street below.

They talked about raising taxes and making war. The king, absorbed in the conversation, let a drop of honey fall onto the railing. “Your highness, let me wipe that up,” offered the adviser. “Never mind,” said the king. “It’s not our problem. The servants will clean it later.”

As the two continued to dine on their honey and crackers, the drop of honey slowly began to drip off the railing. At last it fell onto the street below.

Soon a fly landed on the drop of honey and began his own meal. Immediately a bird flew from a nearby tree and swallowed the fly. A cat saw the bird and pounced, grabbing the bird in its mouth. Then a dog ran out from behind a cart and bit the cat!

“Sire, there seems to be a cat and a dog fight in the street. Should we call someone to stop it?” “Never mind,” said the king. “It’s not our problem.” So the two continued to munch their honey and crackers.

Meanwhile the cat’s owner arrived and began to beat the dog. The dog’s owner ran up and began to beat the cat. Soon the two were beating each other.

“Your majesty, there are two persons fighting in the street now. Shouldn’t we send someone to break this up?” The king lazily looked down from the balcony. “Never mind. It’s not our problem.” yawned the king.

The friends of the cat’s owner gathered and began to cheer him on. The friends of the dog’s owner began to cheer her on as well. Soon both groups entered the fight and attacked each other.

“Sire, a number of people are fighting in the street now. Perhaps we should call someone to break this up.”

You can guess what the king said. “It’s not our problem.”

Now soldiers arrived on the scene. At first they tried to break up the fighting. But when they heard the cause of the fight some sided with the cat’s owner. Others sided with the dog’s owner. Soon the soldiers joined the fight too.

With the soldiers involved, the fight erupted into civil war. Houses were burned down. People were harmed. And the palace itself was set afire and burned to the ground.

The king and his adviser stood surveying the ruins. “Perhaps,” said the king, “I was wrong? Perhaps the drop of honey WAS our problem.”

When I was a junior in High School I thought that violence and suicide prevention was not MY problem. The one day a classmate of mine committed suicide.

I went with some friends to the wake. I can still see the girl, white as a ghost, lying in the casket. I remember asking myself, “Why did she commit suicide?” “Did anyone try to stop her?” “Could I have done anything to help her?”

At that moment I realized that preventing suicide is everyone’s problem.

Thursday: We have to work together to prevent suicide. See you on Thursday!