Taken from a letter to a friend who lost someone to despair:
Thank you for sharing this and I am so sorry for your loss.
It is a useful reminder to consider people in our lives who face cascading losses. Even folks who have coped well most of their lives have trouble with multiple losses in a short time.
Depression is the silent killer. People withdraw and don’t say where it hurts. People with depression learn only slowly that it’s better to cry early and loudly, even when that is embarrassing, than to let things get too far.
Unlike a generation ago many people are not engaged in a religious community that would feel responsible for taking care of people in trouble. So many are alone, and we have not yet developed new ways of keeping people integrated in the community.
I think there will be people newly facing reduced economic circumstances that fall into depression, who will be in danger. Folks who thought they had sufficient savings, sufficient plans for retirement. The devastation of the Bush years will bring many good people down. Reach out to your older friends and neighbors.
*****
photo by judepics
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