In A Showdown With The Program I Present Through

[BFritz21]

(02-17-2019, 04:57 PM)6andcounting Wrote: Not saying you literally say exactly this, but as an example instead of saying "suicide is selfish" say "the feelings of my family weighed on me an influenced me to believe I needed to be there for them. In my own thoughts and decisioning, suicide felt like a selfish way to cope and ultimately decided against it."  This way you aren't passing judgement on those who committed suicide and not speaking broadly on behalf of every who has suicidal thoughts. You would be speaking strictly on your own thoughts and life experiences.

The one lady recommended that I changed it to "I was raised learning to believe that suicide is taking the easy way out," and "the only thing that kept me taking my own life was believing that it's......." so it doesn't sound like I'm condemning it.  Then, I could even offer a disclaimer before or after that says "these are just my thoughts on suicide but that doesn't mean that they're right or that they're true for all suicides."

(02-17-2019, 06:21 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Brad, there's no need to feel like a "sell-out".  Times change, and so does public opinion on topics and verbiage for delivery.  As a public speaker, you need to make it your job to keep your message current;  just like a minister must freshen his sermons, so that it isn't just the same canned lines over and over, so must you keep retooling your presentation to fit the audiences that you're presenting to.  

Perhaps instead of putting the emphasis of "suicide is selfish" on the victim that took their own life, maybe you illustrate that by interviewing some suicide survivors and telling the story through their eyes.  Just as public opinion changes with the time, you must also keep your method of delivery fluid, so that your message is being received by the audience, rather than rejected.

I almost want to go to the girl that complained and just ask her "so your grandpa decided to kill himself rather than facing life, so how is that not taking the easy way out?  And I assume your family and his friends were sad, so how is him choosing paint and sorrow to his family and friends to end his own suffering not selfish?"

That's kind of bold and seems cruel, but it's the truth, and my thoughts about suicide have caused many kids to tell me that it has stopped them from taking their own lives.