Making our history one step at a time
This has been such a helpful book for understanding suicide. Written as a self-help book for those contemplating suicide (but not a substitute for treatment), it is also a good resource for those wanting to help.
What doesn't kill you makes you weaker. Always trust your feelings. Life is a battle between good people and evil people. These are @JonHaidt's three great untruths. But I didn't need a university to teach me these. I learned them all at church.
Durkheim argues that at its root, suicide arises when there is a disequilibrium between the individual and society. Investing in mediating institutions and communities is a vital component towards addressing this heart-rending problem.
God loves you as an individual, with all your facets, talents, quirks and all. The Plan of Salvation isn't a cookie cutter, and God isn't a perfected bureaucrat, trying to fit us into a celestial Gantt chart. It's all about you.
For a time in my singles ward, I thought I would be doomed to eternity as a ministering angel. Is this the God that is no respecter of persons? And I'm not the only one who has or is feeling like they don't have a place in God's plan.
I love this image of the wounded healer. We all have something that is broken. But we all can offer our love and care to those who are lonely, anxious, or in pain.
I recently had a friend ask me, why did you, a gay Latter-Day Saint who had every reason to leave the Church, choose to stay? How did you keep your faith? I wanted to write down some of my thoughts as I've been pondering this.
My favorite image from this book is of God willing to be overruled by his children: "My sons have defeated me, my sons have defeated me." When we see injustice in the world, even at the hands of a church, we should seek to confront it and make it better.
"Teach lessons, not people." Oh. Wait. Got that backwards. "Teach people, not lessons." The targets we use to quantify success can lead to (often harmful) unintended consequences.
