Strange Fruit in a Poisoned Forest

Suicide isn’t painless. It’s a concrete action for a temporary situation. The person who committed the act is in a mental fugue or fog. The anguish overtakes them and they can’t feel the sunshine or see a positive solution. If you feel that way all the time or sometimes; please, please, please call the National Suicide Hotline at 1–800–273–8255.

Check on your people, call them, text them, talk to them. NOW!

I unfortunately read about a few women who took their own life. The darkness overtook them. I feel awful for their families and friends. I know that it hurts them all deeply. COVID-19 prevents or delays a traditional funeral service. Please know that you will never forget them and will forgive them. The pain does go silent, makes you numb and then flares up, but there is no cure.

We need to dig deeper and retrieve our humanity.

I unfortunately read about men who were found hanging in trees. Five black men who are initially thought to have committed suicide as told by the local law enforcement in various parts of the country. Their families are devastated, the police are agitated, the public is speculating and the funeral homes are transporting their loved ones to their final resting spaces. Parts of the country are engaged, enraged, occupied and in flames. Is it getting better?

Cultivate, nurture and propagate new and sustainable growth.

Why did we grow and live in a poisoned forest? Why do we again have strange fruit?