"However bad things may get in life, believe me when I tell you that things can get better. If there is anyone out there who is seriously contemplating committing suicide, please do one thing for me; put it off until tomorrow.
So often in life 'time' is of itself the essence to restoring emotional stability and returning one to sanity of purpose. When our minds are in a state of turmoil or our feelings racked with despair, anger, rage or revenge; that is never the time to act upon our inclinations. Emotive impulses are invariably too cloudy for sound judgement.Things always end badly in such circumstances.
When I was a Probation Officer many years ago, one of my clients committed suicide by overdose. He was a young man who had never known his parents and had been brought up in Dr. Barnardo Homes. He drove a transit van and dreamed of one day becoming a long distance lorry driver. It was New Year's Eve and a very close woman-friend of his had gone off to work in another part of the country without leaving a forwarding address. His friend was a sometimes bed companion to him, between taking on the roles of big sister and mother also.
When 'S' took an overdose in his upstairs flat, immediately after swallowing the bottle of pills, he must have had second thoughts about 'ending it' and threw a chair through his window to presumably call attention and get help. As fate decreed, there was no immediate passer by and by the time that help in the form of an ambulance did arrive, 'S' was dead. He was in his early twenties and apart from me and another flat mate, he had no mourners at his funeral.
In my recent adult adult novel, 'Come Back Peter' (Due for publication in November), 'S' is one of my story characters in the book. Whenever I hear of or see another climb back from the abyss, I always think of 'S', who sadly never made it." William Forde: October 9th, 2015.