(no subject)
So you know the crazy teacher that googled us and occasionally lets us out of class early if we all look dead? He started the class today by telling us to get out a sheet of paper and giving us two phone numbers.
Then he launched into a story about how a woman he knew went to New England (for those of you not in the States, it's just an area near Maine to the north) to go to the funeral of her grandmother. While she was there, she learned that her mother's last sibling was deathly ill in the hospital and near death, so she went to stay with him until he died. A few days later, she attended his funeral, then headed back home to Pittsburgh. On the phone drive, she got a phone call and learned that her 24-year old college son had committed suicide.
He didn't use any names, but it was one of those stories that you have no choice but to believe. He told us that the two numbers were very important --one was his own personal cell, and the other one was the school's counseling hotline. He said that if we were ever in a situation where we desperately needed someone to pay attention but didn't know who to call, we were free to call him.
He also told us that at various points in his own life, he's been depressed, on medication and suicidal. And since he's still here teaching us right now, he said that there was always light at the end of the tunnel and he never wanted any of us to feel like we had no other way out.
I thought that was one of the sweetest things I've heard all year. It was definitely a wake up call. This reminds me that earlier in the semester, my Evolution teacher gave us a similar talk, but he never gave us his own phone #, he only let us know that he was avaliable in his office if we ever needed to talk. Makes me slightly worried that I'm getting all these talks in the same semester. O.o
Now I really need to go make sure my friends have my cell # in case this sort of thing ever happens. :/
Then he launched into a story about how a woman he knew went to New England (for those of you not in the States, it's just an area near Maine to the north) to go to the funeral of her grandmother. While she was there, she learned that her mother's last sibling was deathly ill in the hospital and near death, so she went to stay with him until he died. A few days later, she attended his funeral, then headed back home to Pittsburgh. On the phone drive, she got a phone call and learned that her 24-year old college son had committed suicide.
He didn't use any names, but it was one of those stories that you have no choice but to believe. He told us that the two numbers were very important --one was his own personal cell, and the other one was the school's counseling hotline. He said that if we were ever in a situation where we desperately needed someone to pay attention but didn't know who to call, we were free to call him.
He also told us that at various points in his own life, he's been depressed, on medication and suicidal. And since he's still here teaching us right now, he said that there was always light at the end of the tunnel and he never wanted any of us to feel like we had no other way out.
I thought that was one of the sweetest things I've heard all year. It was definitely a wake up call. This reminds me that earlier in the semester, my Evolution teacher gave us a similar talk, but he never gave us his own phone #, he only let us know that he was avaliable in his office if we ever needed to talk. Makes me slightly worried that I'm getting all these talks in the same semester. O.o
Now I really need to go make sure my friends have my cell # in case this sort of thing ever happens. :/