“Let me first commend you for posting a comment that is not complimentary. Let me clarify my position. I never accused you of being dispassionate – quite the opposite. I did not label these girls as suffering from mental illness or addiction, nor did I suggest you do so. Rather, I feel you have a responsibility to put in context what is known about suicide in general (however briefly your editors will allow). You claim you do not know these girls, yet in the article you clearly state that they were moved to kill themselves over the death of a boyfriend, without even hinting that maybe more was going on in their lives. In the article you label teens who contemplate killing themselves (and by extension the two girls) as “unstable youths,” “disturbed teens,” and “anguished children.” This is less inflammatory to you than one line about how suicide is often the very painful result of untreated depression, even in teens? One mention in your (print) article of an organization like the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide would have been truly helpful in giving people a resource in case they know a teen and/or a family needing accurate information and sound advice.”

I categorically discard your label that my column constitutes “sensationalistic coverage.” I tried hard, in the mere 800 words allowed me, to express the shock, real life effect and sadness of teen suicide. I’d long been researching death-by-train by teens and for me to find myself on such a train was extremely emotional for me. I reject your characterization that I somehow wrote about the topic dispassionately or in a sensational manner.
Also – I certainly didn’t know the two teens well enough to label them (as you seem to) as suffering from “mental illness and/or substance abuse(rs)”
Take my story for what its worth. If you find it unworthy I’m saddened by that. ~ DD

“Diane…..

Thanks very much for doing this piece. My sister killed herself. She came close to stepping in front of a train, but told me later that she lacked the courage. Instead, she died 12 years later of carbon monoxide poisoning. That incident is the first scene of my novel, “Fast Track” which deals, in part, with suicide-by-train.

I agree with you that the topic of suicide needs to be discussed not denied.

Whenever I’m talking with people who are depressed or blue, I always make it a point to ask them if they’re thinking of taking their life; I want them to know it’s okay to talk about it. In at least one case, being available to listen has resulted in the person changing their mind.

Anyway…. thanks for today’s column – it’s a real public service.

John DeDakis
CNN Senior Copy Editor
“The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”
Author, “Fast Track”

“Regarding your most recent (column) on teen suicide: I had to give a Mom back the clothing items of her daughter who hanged herself from a tree. I had them stored in evidence until the investigation was deemed a suicide and no suspicious circumstances. She apparently was a wonderful student and beautiful girl. It was so sad and difficult to meet with her Mom …..” and I have a lot of experience talking with people who have lost a loved one. We also have one of the highest suicide rates off of our local bridges) We’ve had kids and people of all ages jump and die from there. We’ve even had some travel from out of town to jump off of there. I guess they think they’ll enjoy the view on the way down.
Of course, if the deputies get there in time, they too are at risk and one of our more petite deputies almost went over trying to pull a suicidal man back. They did keep him from jumping but it was frightening to watch the COBAN car video on that one as you could see, in the struggle, that the female deputy’s center of gravity was not going to keep her from going over. Another deputy on scene actually was able to tip the weight back onto the road!
I recently received an e-mail from a man who tried to commit suicide by jumping off of a bridge over water. I think it was somewhere back east. He somehow survived and lectures about it now. What really struck me is that he said people think if they jump off a bridge it will feel like they are flying. His description of what you feel and do go through was enough to scare any idea of that way to go, out of my mind….”

“Diane – I was deeply moved and more than little horrified by your column. Like you, I once was a regular rider on Acela trains, commuting to TV or speaking dates between DC and NYC; my beloved daughter, now in her 20′s lives in Philly. No parent could read your words and fail to shudder.

But what you wrote is typical of what children – and teenagers are still in that category – face every single day. Their environment is far more toxic and infinitely more lethal that the one I grew up with in the 1950′s. Coming of age in the mid- 60′s, the greatest trouble I ever witnessed was when my college room-mate was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol, spending the night in jail as his family arrived for Parents’ Weekend. However embarrassing, that mini-hiccup was nothing compared to the tragedy you wrote about.

In our family, we are currently going through the slow death that cancer sometimes brings – in this case a 42-year old nephew with two teenage sons. Jesse became a Christian last year and so his sons are seeing the fundamental changes that spiritual conversion brings – literally that “everything becomes new.” Given the personal challenges he is facing, there is a priceless security in the knowledge that the death of a believing Christian is simply a step from one world to another. As I tell him frequently: death is easy, it’s living that is the hard part. Your column reminded me that this point needs to be constantly reinforced with those two precious boys who must bear the coming loss of their father in intensely personal ways.

If there is good news, it is this. At our church in San Antonio, last weekend’s praise service was entirely conducted by our teenagers – to audiences of 3500 people at each of three services. Their talents were simply stunning: drama, dance and musical performances so professional yet so moving that they became their own irrefutable testimony. No wonder that they were interrupted by standing ovations and marked by tears of pure joy.

You know me best as a soldier but as a Christian I have also learned that you don’t wait for the enemy to attack what you hold dearest – because he surely will. Instead, you have to build faith one soul at a time and one step at a time. Because none of can know when that ultimate test will be upon us.

Hugs to you and your readers”