By: Amelia BB
My Interview with Esty Goodspeed, a woman from an organization called Suicide Watch.
There are a lot of suicides that happen each year. A lot of people chose to commit suicide because of things that go on in their lives. Kids that are as young as 7, to adults as old as 60 commit suicide. People try to get help but sometimes that isn’t enough and they are left with nothing. Esty Goodspeed, a woman from an organization called Suicide Watch, talked about suicides and helped Gateway students understand them more. She told us about the organization and ways she’s gave back to the community. The organization helps kids to stop feeling suicidal and talk with them about their problems. The organization wants to make a difference in the world and change the number of suicides each year. Meeting with her was a great way to understand suicide and how I’m able to give back to my community.
When people think of suicide they think of teens most of the time. Teens aren’t the only ones who commit suicide in life. In my interview Esty Goodspeed, talked about people over the age of 60 who commit suicide. “There are more suicides for people over the age of 60”, she said. It was surprising that there were more suicides. But there are more over 60 because they are sick, not financially supported, or their spouse may have passed away.” People pay attention to teen suicides. Nobody thinks of people doing something so severe like committing suicide at those particular ages. It shows that no matter what age somebody is, they can have depression and problems in their life and they feel like the only option left for them, is to take their life into their own hands. Thus, we see that teens are not the only people in life who think about and who actually go through with committing suicide.
Both women and men commit suicide. It’s not just one gender that goes through with suicide. Although both men and women commit suicide, the number of men and women are not equally represented each year. In the interview with Esty Goodspeed she said, “Women are more depressed. They are more likely to try to die by suicide. The stats change. But more women follow through with it. Women are more depressed and emotional and they talk about it more. There is a gender difference and women follow through with it more.” Esty is saying that there are more women who attempt and go through with suicide than men. Women are usually more emotional than men which is one of the reasons why women go through with committing suicide more. Although women go through with committing suicide more, that doesn’t mean men don’t commit suicide. Everybody in the world has their differences and all have their reasons why they want to end their lives. Overall, a lot of people commit suicide whether they are a male or a female, but females are more commonly known to go through with suicide than men.
When somebody calls a hotline, they are calling for many reasons whether they are sad, happy, or just need to talk to somebody. Esty talked about her work on the hotline and about how they deal with giving advice, and she said, “ We just have to say, I am sorry I can’t give advice.” When people hear this they are probably very surprised. People call hotlines so they can get advice and have reasons not to commit suicide. If someone is calling just for advice and they can’t get it, that doesn’t leave them with many options. But even though the hotline can’t give advice, they still help a lot of people who feel hopeless and don’t have anybody to talk to. Therefore, even though people aren’t able to get advice, hotlines help people a lot and are a great resource for people who are feeling suicidal.
There are a lot of suicides each year and there are a lot of homicides each year. Homicides are payed attention to more than suicides but that doesn’t mean that homicides occur more than suicides. Esty was talking to us about how many suicides and homicides happen each year and she said, “20,000 more suicides than homicides each year. We got these numbers from the chief comer examiner. He sends these numbers each year.” Everybody in the room was surprised by this number. People would be more surprised about this because homicides are taken in more dramatically and are payed more attention to when on the news. Even though homicides may be payed attention to more, suicides are just as important. A lot of people each year commit suicide and the numbers need to drop down to zero. Both homicides and suicides are terrible tragedies that happen each year and whether suicides or homicides are higher in number, both shouldn’t happen at all. Thus, both homicides and suicides occur a lot each year and are both important things that should be focused on more.
Suicides happen a lot each year and people are working to help others who feel suicidal get out of that stage in their life and help them understand that they are important people. People who feel suicidal are usually dealing with problems in their life that they don’t know how to deal with them. Ways to help them deal with their problems is to call a hotline. Suicide is a really sad thing for anyone who has these feelings or for their friends and families. Hopefully Suicide Watch and people who care about suicides are helping to cut down on the number of them.