Letters to the editor

Suicide Prevention 

September is Suicide Prevention Month and it’s important that we are there for each other and take steps to prevent suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s theme for the month is to #KeepGoing, by taking simple actions to safeguard our mental health and save lives. From learning the warning signs for suicide and what to do if you are worried someone is struggling, to bringing education programs to your community, we can all learn new ways to help each other save lives.

One action I’m taking is to urge my public officials to prioritize suicide prevention and mental health. When someone is in acute crisis, it’s hard for them to think clearly, and even reaching out for help can be a struggle. For this reason, it is vital that Congress pass the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act (H.R.4194/S.2661) to make a three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline a reality. This legislation will provide the funding and resources needed by crisis centers across the country that support those struggling with their mental health and thoughts of suicide.

In my senior year of high school, I lost two classmates to suicide, one being a good friend of mine, within six weeks of each other. In a close-knit senior class of 108 students, these losses hit home for everyone. Feeling the pain of losing someone to suicide and seeing how this impacted my community is something I would not wish upon anyone else. Changes need to be made in order to save lives.

In this time of uncertainty, we all need to find new ways to connect and support each other.

Together, we #KeepGoing.

— Laura Kayata, North Attleboro

Double standard

I am a veteran of foreign wars that served under Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. I have orders signed by all of the above and retirement orders signed by the last, I respected all of them as my commander in chief. However, it is well known inside Washington and the military that Clinton’s wife held the military in open contempt for eight years in the White House, and she got us into some unnecessary wars as secretary of state showing perhaps a lack of respect for the power of the military as well as its members. Yet I heard not a word of this in 2016 when she was a presidential candidate.

Fast forward to 2020, the Atlantic prints an anonymously sourced hit piece saying that President Trump disdains our war dead, it’s almost like they were reaching for something more shocking than the charge of racism which has failed to stick. But again, it was anonymously sourced, and yet it was running as a headline on 90% of cable “news” for a week straight, displacing promising news of economic recovery with half of the jobs lost during COVID shutdowns coming back. How do the anonymously sourced accusations of disdain for our military against this president carry more weight than actual acts of disdain for our military by Hillary Clinton that many of these reporters at best knew about, at worst saw firsthand? And the media wonders why it has lost our trust.

— Nick McNulty, Windham N.H.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/32u817T