`This is sad…
I just heard that a friend’s 17 year old nephew committed suicide. He was a young man who seemed to have no other choice…in his mind.

When I posted a note of condolence to his family, I clicked the box that let me know if other notes were posted. I have read the whole guest book and it dawned on me that this young man had friends who he saw daily and they embraced their friendship. There were people his age that hadn’t seen him for a while but remembered wonderful things about him. There are family members, church members, friends and friends of friends (like me) who wanted to comfort his family.

How much difference would it have made if he had known how much his friends loved him?  How much love was out there for his family that he could have gathered for himself?

I had a poster when I was younger that said, Life is Short – and there is not time to brighten the hearts of those traveling the dark way with us…O, be swift to love. Make haste to be kind.

It was a paraphrase of a Pablo Neruda poem. I received it 40 years ago and it still haunts me. Every time I see someone lost I wonder if he could have been saved had he known how loved he was.

Today I encourage…urge…DEMAND!!! That you find someone you love and admire and tell them so. Don’t post your memories in a guest book after their death. Post them on a billboard for the living, breathing person to see.

And you may find out how loved and admired you are, too.