The Fragility of Teenage

An old classmate of mine lost her gorgeous 17 year old daughter over the weekend to suicide. Bright future. All county soccer player. Already enrolled in college for the fall. Indescribably sad. We sat all the kids down last night and told them that they need to talk about whatever is bothering them...teenage angst happens to everybody...mean kids are just mean and it's all about them, only them...but also they must reach out to help other kids who speak of desperation and depression. However bad it seems, there's always something that can be done about it. And there's no "reset" button after an act like this one.

Last night as I was running errands after dinner -- mindless stuff like dropping off books at the library, putting mail in the box, and picking up a dozen eggs -- pieces of verses began to gallop through my mind, so I wrote them down.

I told my sons about you

To save them from your fate

And now your mom's without you

For you it was too late

What ever were your demons?

What ever were your troubles?

What ever were your secrets?

What ever were your struggles?

What ever were you thinking

When you drew your final breath?

What ever was so awful

That it made you look to death?

An athlete so strong

A future so bright

How could so much go wrong

That it couldn't be made right?

However hopeless or broken

You thought your world to be

Every time your name is spoken

We'll relive the tragedy

We'll never know what mattered

That could only be solved by dying

To leave a parent's dreams shattered

And leave so many hearts crying