A Permanent Decision

I'm very surprised, and pleased, that my post has spurred so much discussion.
I'm excited that something good may yet come of this tragedy. Thank you to
everyone who has emailed me or the list about this difficult subject. Your
advice is very much appreciated. Your prayers are also very much appreciated.
This is a wonderful support group to have.

I have received a considerable number of emails on this topic and I have read
every one of them very closely. I apologize that I have not been able to reply
back to everyone individually. To those of you I did reply back to, thank you
for your understanding and for overlooking my sometimes rambling and ill-formed
thoughts. I continue to welcome further discussion on this issue.

To reiterate and stress a few points...Suicide is more common than most people
realize. Certainly more so than I realized. In Boy Scouting, we deal with one
of the highest risk groups--adolescent males. Scouting has made many enormous
contributions to society and I hope it will make yet another. Please lend your
support to having suicide training included in national and local courses. We
have an opportunity to make a very real difference, in addition to what we
already do.

Also, please have this discussion in your Troops. Believe me, I know that it
isn't something easy to bring up. I sure wish our Troop had held such a
discussion, even if there was only the slightest chance that it would
have done some good. I speak both to the adults and youth on this list...do
not be afraid to bring up the topic of suicide. We need to begin to have more
open and frank discussions about it. Especially to the junior leaders on the
list, if you initiate such a discussion, it may have an even greater impact.
Please consider doing so.

I agree with so much of what has been posted on this topic, and I won't repeat
it all. Mike Bowman has very eloquently stated many of my thoughts. There is
one last point that I would like to emphasize. An earlier poster urged you
to consider the impact of guns in the home on suicide. The research I've
been doing has shown that there is a very strong correlation there. It isn't
that children of gun owners are more likely to attempt suicide, but they are
a lot more likely to succeed. I am a supporter of our right to bear arms,
but I urge you to consider foregoing this right if your have children in the
house. Please give this serious thought. The gun is more likely to be used
to commit suicide than to defend your family. That is a frightening truth.

I haven't posted nearly all I have to say, but I'll leave it here for now.
Again, thank you so much for your outpouring of advice and empathy. I will
keep you informed on any significant related news.

Yours in the Scouting Spirit,

Devin Warrington
Forever an Eagle Scout
Assistant Scoutmaster
Heart of America Council
0203127@acad.nwmissouri.edu

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