The fight for your life

When I reflect on ancient the parable of the Phoenix, I am reminded of the life and death cycle warranted by our mortality, and the effects it has on our culture. Like the Phoenix, each of us are born with power: talents, dreams and visions with the capacity to change the world. This is the power Jesus referenced as lights that we should shine among others.

Like the Phoenix, human beings face many forms of death that challenge our very notions of life. As Eckhart Tolle once said: “People tend to be uncomfortable with endings, because every ending is a little death. ... Whenever an experience comes to an end — a gathering of friends, a vacation, your children leaving home — you die a little death.” This includes triumphant endings — overcoming an addiction or breaking a bad habit. With every trial or circumstance, human beings arise new beings. We are clay constantly molded and shaped with every new experience. I cannot deny this when I reflect on the person I was at the age of 18 — naive, confused and lost. Like it or not, you are not the same person today you were yesterday.

On occasion, there is an exception to this cycle. It occurs when we face a battle that we just cannot seem to overcome. It is a seemingly endless tunnel without a light; a fight without a bell to signal the end of a round; feeling trapped in a moment. We have diagnosed many of these battles by a range of mental illnesses — namely, depression.

Two weeks ago, we were given two startlingly reminders of the most horrendous outcomes of mental illnesses such as depression: suicide. On June 5, world-renowned purse designer and entrepreneur Kate Spade took her own life. Three days later, CNN host and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain committed suicide. For many, their deaths were as tragic as the Phoenix and its implosion into flames. Their deaths were untimely and unexpected. Yet, their deaths have once again cast a light on the startling suicide rate in our nation. There are 125 suicides per day in the nation. Last week alone, the suicide rate nationally increased by 25 percent, causing a national crisis.

It is a stark and eerie contrast that our nation is the wealthiest on Earth, and yet breeds a culture with the world’s highest suicide rate. The trend in suicides among publicly known and successful individuals has surged in recent years — Robin Williams in 2014, Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington in 2017, and many others. The trend reveals a startling reality. Wealth and success do not alone fill a void or make an individual whole by any standard.

Consider the publicly known individuals who attempted and survived suicide: Halle Berry, Elton John and Drew Barrymore or who had thoughts of suicide: Oprah Winfrey and Michael Phelps, among others.

A number of factors are said to contribute to suicide: the loss of a beloved family member or a profession, or the end of a marriage. For others, I would imagine it could be the state of our world: an unprecedented state of political divide, where greed, war and fear cast a shadow on the light of our world. Matthew 5:45 tells us that troubles come for us all. Indeed, it rains on the “just and the unjust.”

Nevertheless, I remember in times of present darkness Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s conviction that stars are lanterns which can only be seen in darkness. Brokenness can lead us to a dark place. Yet, with one look up, we can use the light from the countless stars above us to light our paths forward. We can use those lights to outlast the long night. Just as the sun rises each day without fail, so too will the sun rise again and end even the longest of nights in our trials. Like the legend of the Phoenix, we can rise from ashes, spread our wings as overcomers and conquerors — possessing a power far greater than the one we had prior to our fight.

If you know or suspect someone who may be contemplating suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255.

A native of Pacifica, Jonathan Madison worked as professional policy staff for the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, from 2011-2013. Jonathan works as an attorney and can be reached via email at jonathanemadison@gmail.com.