I Am Studying Suicide Rates

Problem: Too many Veterans commit suicide. As of 2014, Veterans have a twenty-one percent higher risk of suicide than U.S. civilian adults. Veterans Affairs [VA], (2016). Fact Sheet Suicide Prevention.

"More people in the general population die from suicide than homicide in North America. There are almost 11 suicide deaths each year for every 100,000 people living in the United States, and for every suicide, there are between 8 and 25 attempts" (Brent 4203). Based on this research, the great effect of suicide is displayed. According to dictionary.com, suicide can be defined as "the intentional taking of one's own life." Suicide is a major issue for all people, but it most obviously affects those ranging from ten to twenty-four. People need to understand the tremendous ramifications caused from suicide everyday; when people take their lives, others lose their loved ones. Suicide, one of the leading causes of death of numerous people each day, has reached a crisis point for adolescents and young adults, and it needs to be prevented.

Yesterday, 16-year-old Rachel decided to commit suicide-- an all too common increased trend in America as suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds (“Teen Suicide Is Preventable”). Rachel felt like she could not handle her life anymore. Her parents were in the process of getting a divorce, she was being bullied at school, was having trouble succeeding in academics and co-curricular activities, and was recently been diagnosed with depression. So, in a desperate attempt to make all her problems go away, she took several pills and ended her life. Now, what caused Rachel specifically to take this drastic step and end her life? Was it her home life? Her school

Looking at the memorial hurt, but touching the memorial is what killed. A surge of pain ran up my arm as I placed my hand upon the memorial and began thinking of all the pain it had brought me even though years had passed. As the agony engulfed me, I fell to my knees. Then I began to ponder why anyone would want such a concrete reminder of what happened during this disastrous event. These are the thoughts that may have went through the minds of the subjects in the images, A Man Kneels before the 9/11 Memorial and The Old Vet and His Tank. Both of these photographs depict sadness for the viewer by making the men the focal points of the images. The photographers, Justin Lane and English Russia, additionally portray sorrow by the context and

In 2014, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death overall in the United States. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2015), there were twice as many suicides than there were homicides. Suicidal ideation (SI), defined as an individual thinking about, considering, or planning their suicide, is established before the act of committing suicide. Research suggests that adverse childhood experiences (CDC, 2015) will put an individual at risk for developing a mental illness that could result in SI and suicide attempt (SA). It is important for the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) to recognize the signs of SI and SA while assessing their client.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is unlike any other. The names of the casualties are arranged by date of death not in alphabetical order or rank. The black granite turns each visitors own image into a virtual part of the surface. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most amazing and emotional memorials in Washington (Moeller 1 Pg. 85). “Take a knife and cut open the earth,” she said, “and with time the grass will heal it.” (Maya Ying Lin).

The bottom was characterize as a large black neighborhood in Ohio, that stood above the hill of Medallion was a predominately white wealthy community. Before it was call the Bottom, now they call it the suburbs. Consequently, a good slave master promised freedom and piece of land if the slave perform difficult chores, when they finish the work he was hastens about giving away valley land he hope to give away piece of the bottom. However, the slave thought the valley land was the bottom, the master told them when God look down, it's the bottom, it the bottom of heaven best land there is. And they agree to it, And it was done. Shadrack was a citizen of the bottom, he fought in WWI, return back as a damaged man that couldn't cope with reality of what was happening in the world, his mental state of mind was unstable he live around the border of the town to find harmony in his life.

Veterans, compared to the U.S. population, have a higher risk of suicide. Suicide is a major public health concern, with suicide being the 11th leading cause of death across all ages and the seventh leading cause of death in males. Depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, access to firearms, and a history of self-harm or suicide attempts are factors that place veterans at higher risk for suicide. The increased risk for suicide among veterans has been brought to public attention, which has lead The Department of Veteran Affairs to announce the prevention of suicide to be a major national priority. In response to the increase in suicide rates, the Department of Veteran Affairs has created a comprehensive suicide prevention efforts and has collaborated with the of Defense (DoD) to develop a clinical practice guideline based on best available evidence and expert consensus (Chapman & Ibrahim, 2015).

The poem Suicide Note, written by Janice Mirikitani (1987), talks about a young lady, who has studied in an Asian-American female college. The lady, unfortunately, committed suicide by jumping through her dormitory’s window. She left behind a note, citing reasons that led to her actions. After a critical analysis of the note, her parents were held responsible for her actions; they were pressurizing her to perform better in her exams. The poem, thus, describes the real feelings and the emotions of this young lady, who believes that committing suicide is the only option left to please her parents and to escape the enormous pressure placed on her. The persona uses voice in the poem to bring our attention to the sufferings she was going through, and that led to the devastating event. Voice in poetry is the strong words of a line, stanza or a page that creates a relationship between the audience and the persona. Voice can, therefore, be categorized as imagery, patterns of sounds created, rhythm, tone, and diction (Gahern 166). The following is a description of how the voice in Mirikitani’s suicide note helps the reader understand the persona’s reasoning.

The next pieces of art were made with commemorative intentions, so that we not only fail to forget our history for better or for worst, but also to give thanks to those who have sacrificed themselves in the name of what they were fighting for. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial constructed in 1980-1982 and made out of Black granite, was designed by a student name Maya Lin. This controversial wall Bears the names of 60,000 American servicemen and women who died or are missing from the time of the war. These names were cleverly engraved down chronological order by year of death/missing. The memorial has influenced many other public memorials, despite the fact many were against it in the beginning. Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West depicts the military battle of 1759 in which the British Army defeated the French in a struggle for control of the Canadian portion of North America. The general, James Wolfe died on the battlefield just as his troop’s secured victory. His death represented the idea of patriotic self-sacrifice. This painting was also a controversial piece because of the wardrobe choice the artist decided to depict the “heroes” in. What really strikes me those most in this painting is the background. There is a billowing of smoke that seems to encompass almost half of the canvas, however the light from the midday sun looks as if it is starting to shine through. This could represent the victory of the battle or the Gods coming to lay General Wolfe to rest. You can also see that all the men surrounding General Wolfe are turned his way or even blatantly pointing. This draws the viewer to Wolfe’s fallen form even despite the fact that there is so much more surrounding him. Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware honors George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 during the American Revolutionary War. This act was the first move in a surprise attack against the Hessian forces

According to the quote above from the Centers for Disease Control, “there were 21,175 suicides in 2013 using a firearm and roughly 42,773 suicide deaths happen every year… Firearms account for almost 50% of all suicides” claims the AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) "Suicide Statistics - AFSP." AFSP. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. This is why firearm owners need frequent background checks to prevent citizens with disorders to own firearms! Because guns fall into the hands of unstable people all the time, and by emplacing gun control laws into motion we can stop giving people guns and putting those around them at risk for injury or worse:

In her poem “Wanting to Die”, Anne Sexton explains the feeling of suicidal ideation to an unnamed individual. Following the form of contemporary poets, she takes an incredibly taboo topic and discusses it in a conversational tone, thereby shocking the reader and forcing them to think about the issue in an unconventional way. The poem lacks a rhyme scheme and meter, although it is structured into three-line stanzas, and thus aligns with the free verse style of writing typical of contemporary poets. “Since you ask,” Anne Sexton opens her poem with these threes words, throwing the reader into the middle of a seemingly ordinary conversation (Sexton 1).

Often when we think of monuments to our nation’s trauma, we think first of official war and veterans memorials as sites of reconciliation and witnessing. With a few exceptions, our memorial imagery is dominated by the images and histories of white, heterosexual men and the traumatic expierences of women and people of colour are systematically silenced and thus excluded. In this essay I aim to explore how those isolated, marginalized traumatic experiences can find representation and recognition in the public sphere through artist collective FORCE’s Monument Project (2013 - ongoing), a campaign to erect a permanent national monument for survivors of rape and

The utilisation of effective techniques within various text would be able to enhance one’s feeling and recognise the feelings of the author. Despite the effective use of pathetic fallacy which presents a sense of grief for the fallen soldier, imagery provides a more sophisticated representation in which the audience are able to visualise the detrimental impact soldier's experience, such as the guilt of killing an innocent person. The pathetic fallacy, “frozen sunset...bitter geometry.” demonstrates that soldiers experience grief and pain everyday within the warzone. However, it is not an effective technique as these fallacies can have various connotations and the audience will not be able to identify the message and emotions felt by the soldiers.

The continued use of negative connotation helps reinforce the tragic tone of the passage