My nephew was fighting alcoholism recovery and setbacks. He was discharged from the USAF two years ago for being drunk on guard duty. His life spun out of control afterward with self-help treatments like AA, swearing off drinking then, going back to it. Depression was his constant enemy.
In October 2022, just two short months ago, he disappeared from his mom’s and other families’ lives. Then, yesterday the police came to visit his mom in Colorado; he had her information in his wallet as an emergency contact. They bore the fatal news that in the state of Montana he had perished due to suicide.
Devastation is only the least of the emotions going through the family at this moment. He was a bright man of 29 years with so much promise left. Alcoholism runs in the family. His grandparents were and are both alcoholics. He had two uncles die from alcoholism; one from direct suicide the other more slowly.
When a person decides to stop reaching out to others for help, to take things into their own hands and kill themselves as a way to stop their internal pain, they create a devasting hole in someone else’s heart. All the “what if,” “if only,” and “why,” will never be answered for those they have left behind. It is a massive tragedy.
Please, please, please. Keep reaching out to your family and friends who are going through alcoholism and/or depression. Tell them one more time that you are willing to help them help themselves– you will go to counselors, go to AA meetings, or just be there to listen– when they are sober, even if it is just one day of sobriety. Tell them that although it may seem impossible to them, suicide is an irreverseable solution to a difficult but temporary problem. That there is help available to them, they just have to ask one more time or a hundredth, as long as they ask and are willing to do something about their issue.
If you believe in God the creator of all, then, pray daily for the depression and/or alcoholism to be removed completely from your loved ones’ life. Only God can make a difference in total healing. God didn’t choose to make your loved one an alcoholic but he sure will fix it; it may not be easy or pretty but it will be complete.
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