A permanent decision

After considerable thought, I have decided to send this email to the list
for two reasons. First, to make you more aware of a serious issue and
second, to ask your advice. I do apologize for the length.

Two weeks ago, I received news about a 14-year-old scout in my troop.
This scout had recently finished a term of office as Senior Patrol
Leader. He was a Brave in the Tribe of Mic-O-Say and a Brotherhood member
of the Order of the Arrow. He was a Life Scout, nearing Eagle. He was
incredibly intelligent. In fact, he was in the gifted program at school.
This freshman in high school was very popular and very musically gifted.
He had a loving family. Two weeks ago, after school, he shot and killed
himself in his bedroom.

I worked through a lot of emotions about what happened in the past two weeks,
but that's not what this email is about. I had no clue that this young man
was suicidal. Granted, he was loud and obnoxious, often getting into minor
mischief, but nothing that drew serious attention. It had never crossed my
mind that this could happen to a scout, especially not one with everything
going for him. But it did.

I've done a lot of research into teen suicide in the past two weeks. It
shocked me to find how common it is. The stats vary depending on the exact
range of ages you're looking at and over what years the data was collected.
However, suicide is about the 4th leading cause of death for scout-age
children. And, boys succeed at suicide considerably more often than girls.
Teen suicide has somewhere in the neighborhood of tripled in the past 25
years. This is simply unacceptable, I'm sure you'll agree.

So, what's my point? Don't take anything for granted. Please, be on the
lookout for warning signs. Take some time and get some pamphlets about
teen suicide. Study up on the issue. If it could happen to the young man
in my troop, it could happen to anyone, and that is very scary to me. Don't
be afraid to talk about it with your scouts. The research I've found says
that bringing it up will not give them any new ideas, but it may make it
easier for them to talk about. I realize that it is a difficult subject to
broach, but believe me you'll be glad you did if it helps prevent even one
suicide. I cannot stress enough how real of a problem this is and that no
one is immune.

Now, on to the advice I'm seeking. There are a couple of scouts in the
troop who I am concerned about. They refuse to discuss the death of their
friend. In my opinion, they are still in denial. The meeting after the
incident, we all sat around in a circle and let everyone say anything they
wanted. Well, only a couple of the scouts took the opportunity to speak.
Most of the adults spoke and were very open about their feelings. We made
it clear to the scouts that they could approach us at any time if they
wanted to talk. None of them has taken us up on the offer. Now, two weeks
have passed and everyone is naturally acting like everything is back to
normal. Of course, we all realize it isn't, but we don't want to keep
rehashing it.

What can we do with the scouts who may still be in denial? Do we just let
them work it out on their own? Last we checked, they had not discussed it
with their parents. Even starting to bring up the subject puts up a brick
wall. They aren't acting moody or depressed, at least when they're at
Scouts, so it's really hard to tell what they're feeling.

Advice from all, especially those with experience to draw on, will be
greatly appreciated. I'll answer any pertinent questions. Your prayers
on this subject would also be appreciated.

Yours in the Scouting Spirit,

Devin Warrington
Assistant Scoutmaster
0203127@acad.nwmissouri.edu

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