Unfinished Business – A Peer Mentor Poem
Unfinished Business – A Peer Mentor Poem
As a multiple suicide attempt survivor there were always professionals elusively commenting on my attempts by saying, “Never do that again!” , “It’ll make things worse” , “Life gets better!”. These comments just lead me to intense curiosity; How does it make it worse? When will life get better? None of these people could explain their statements further than the comment itself. Without any convincing explanations, I continued to self-harm. There were also peers who laughed about my suicide attempts and bullied me for it. In my future, I learned through experience what these professionals could not explain in depth pertaining to the topic of suicide and prevention. If I could go back in time and converse with my younger self, I would provide detailed information, adequate resources, and unconditional support. It would sound similar to this…
Unfinished Business
By Ziona, A Peer Mentor with The NAN Project
There is some unfinished business…
Have you heard, “It gets better”
“It’s all in your head”
Have you heard, “Never do that again”
“Your doing this for attention”
“The world is a different place without you”
Have you seen the horrors of survivors
Blindness, paraplegic
Have you thought of what life will be if you survive
Brain dead, brain damage, nerve damage
If life gives you a second, third, fourth or fifth chance
How much will you grow
Laugh
Succeed
Witness
Understand, how needed you are
The Importance of YOU in the fabric of life
What was it? The bullies?…I’ve been there!
Was it the media?… I’ve been there!
The neglect, and abandonment by the ones you love?
Unbearable broken heart… I’ve been there!
The failed career, university pressure from faculty and peers?
Rational and irrational fears… Leading to the overflow of tears?
Oh, I’ve been there!
I am here
To tell you to live
Live for life’s sake
Because we have unfinished business!
We have jokes to tell and people to cheer up!
We have jokes to laugh that haven’t yet been told!
We still have to meet the person of our dreams that will heal our broken heart!
We have ACTUAL dreams to see in this reality…
There is some unfinished business
We are going to make better, newer, funner memories; way more stories to tell
More cups of tea to sip and gossip to relish
Yes, more tears to cry alone and with others… more words to say
New adventures and Las Vegas unmentioners;
Secrets to tell and secrets to keep
Unfinished smiles, unfinished success, unfinished thank you’s
Unanswered yes’s
So…Have you heard?
There is some unfinished business.