I checked one of my favorite websites yesterday, PostSecret.com, and found the following post:

The website shows a new set of cards each week that anonymous people send in with their secrets. The site updates every Sunday morning. Within a few hours of posting, someone had set up a Facebook page called Please Don’t Jump. 24 hours later 18,000 people have joined the page with many writing heartfelt reasons and admonitions not to end that writer’s life. Suicide seems to touch so many people so terribly deeply.

I lost a friend to suicide last week. He was a successful businessman, had a great wife and family and wonderful values. He had everything to live for, yet depression ravaged him from time to time. He actually met with another friend of mine a couple of years ago who was in the hole of deep depression and helped him see that things would get better. I suppose at the crucial moment, he couldn’t give himself that same pep talk.

I’m so sad as I consider my recently deceased friend. I don’t know what lessons to draw, what conclusions to make. No quick advice nuggets work. He lived with the right priorities. He had great family and friend relationships. He loved God all in. Perhaps sadness, not understanding, is the only appropriate response.

If you take a few minutes to visit the Please Don’t Jump Facebook page, you will feel the power of suicide. It’s worth the visit.