I made a connection on here with someone from Canada over a suicidal post a year ago. He has become my friend, and over the time that I’ve known him I’ve gotten to see that he is one of the kindest, strongest, most caring, intelligent and compassionate people I’ve ever come across. But life has not been kind to him. He’s faced tremendous adversity by nature of his being gay. He’s criminally underpaid and under appreciated, taken advantage of by his landlord and repeatedly has his struggles invalidated even by his own family. His situation is pretty much inescapable, not just due to financial constraints but also due to the compounding waves of crippling depression, and yet in all the time I’ve known him, he’s kept dragging himself to that same job every day, hitching on a face like everything’s normal, and for three years after first posting about feeling suicidal, he’s still managing to push on. I haven’t shared much of my own traumatic situation with him due to the complexity of it, but on occasions where I’ve shared parts I’ve been taken aback by the incredible compassion and empathy he’s shown me even while harbouring so much pain of his own.

I’d decided that if he ever ended his life, I’d at least make a post in this sub honouring him, because someone of his goodness does not deserve to depart this world with no one ever knowing or caring that he was gone. But I figure, why say the nicest things about someone after they’re already dead? My friend is struggling in circumstances that he should never have had to bear, and while there’s not a lot that can be done to change his physical circumstances, I would at least like to be able to let him know that he is loved, and that people who know something of this pain, this daily battle to keep ourselves together long enough to make it through to the next day, the mask of calm we keep in place while inside we are screaming out and broken down in tears, and the fortitude and patience we have in facing repeat invalidation by people who don’t know our situations but use assumptions to place themselves above us, are behind him, and that we’re rooting for him. If you understand this pain and have words of support to share, please do so 🙂. I will be showing him this post tomorrow.

My friend, you are a light in this universe. I’m grateful you’re here, and I admire and respect you for who you are. You are loved. Keep hanging in there 💛.