Surviving the Life

OK, gang, it’s time for me to put on my Good Samaritan hat. Which oddly enough looks quite a bit like a container of Jiffy Pop, after popping. But enough of that. I’m going to turn off the funny and give up this entry to something awesome.

I want to share a link with the world, because I think it can make a difference. I want to share a young artist’s work with you. This is a project by someone who is starting small, but could easily be convinced to go bigger. We can all agree that teen suicide is a worse problem than Paris Hilton’s fame, yeah? Well, it’s also the one of those two problems that we can actually do something about.

Whatever drives us to be so angst-ridden when we’re young, it’s often just an honest example of “hey, kid…I was there, and it’ll be OK” that can make a difference. I didn’t go so far as to court suicide, but it’s no exaggeration to say that high school was hell for me. I was bullied by every jock in that place, most of the cheerleaders, all of the smokers, and half the nerds. It was amazing to me at the time how that shit stopped almost cold once I got out of high school. I held on, and it damn well got better.

The artist I’m linking to wants to make a difference. She’s sharing stories of people who endured, who flirted with disaster but survived. She’s using a pretty cool photography concept to do it, (because she's a freaking photographer) which she’s turning into a book. Said book will be distributed in her community, making it available where it’s most needed. If this goes well, it may explode. In a good way, not like seagulls on alka-seltzer.

Kind of speaks for itself, really.

Personally, I’d like to see her expectations shattered. I’d love for this to be shared so often, by so many, that the project goes national…don’t want to donate? What about volunteering to distribute? What about volunteering as a model…did you flirt with disaster and overcome it? Will you help them keep on living?

Let’s turn this into a freaking movement. Maybe I’m just one voice, but if we add all of your voices, then those you share it with…this thing will happen in no time at all. Let’s help shine the light on those dirty little secrets that can cause so much havoc…let them know they’re not alone, and they don’t have to hide it. Gay, depressed, different, skinny, fat, brainy, disabled, Lions fan, what-the-hell-ever they feel haunted by…we who have been through it can share, let them know that it’s worth surviving. When it’s all said and done, there is no dirty secret…just a shared experience that is part of being human.

Please, CLICK HERE. Then share this far and wide.