Hi Guys.
Forgive me! This has taken much too long! It’s been a pretty amazing month, but before we dive into all that, i want to acknowledge yesterday and today.
Today is September 11, the six-year anniversary of the day that our world changed, a day we felt fragile like never before. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost loved ones on that day. We heard so much about “a country under attack” in those first moments, but for thousands of people, on that day and every day since, this was something much deeper. People lost fathers and friends. Sisters. Sons. Mothers. Dreams. This was their heart, their home, their family. Today we say we’re sorry. We can’t imagine what you’ve known. We stand with you. We cry with you. We remember. Yesterday was [url=http://www.med.uio.no/iasp/english/wspd/2007/WSPD2007English.pdf]WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY[/url], and we want to thank all of you who remembered this day in some way. We heard from a lot of folks who wore TWLOHA shirts, and that’s really cool. Many of you have noticed, or will remember, that since day one, our intro (main page) has spoken to the phrase “suicide prevention”. I shared there, and I have remembered often, a conversation in which a friend told me “There’s no such thing as suicide prevention.” And it’s a beautiful powerful privilege to be able to say now, eighteen months later, that I am absolutely certain that he was wrong. We have seen lives change. We have seen people choose life. We hear these stories almost every day. I don’t blame my friend for saying what he said. It is a popular perception. A lot of people feel that way, that nothing can be done, that if someone wants to take their life, they will. I understand where that opinion comes from… but we’ve learned that there’s more to the story. That untreated depression is the leading cause of suicide. 2 out of 3 people who struggle with depression, don’t get help. But depression is treatable. DEPRESSION IS TREATABLE. So much hope exists in the face of these issues. There are people who have devoted their lives to understanding these issues and to meeting their needs. People all over the world. In your state. In your city.
[url=http://myspace.com/impactawards]MYSPACE IMPACT AWARDS[/url].
We won! Thanks to all of you who voted for TWLOHA in last month’s MySpace Impact Awards. MySpace donated $10,000 to TWLOHA, which will go directly to treatment and recovery through the org’s and channels we currently support. Beyond the $10k, which is huge, we’ve been in the mix on the main page of MySpace, which is huge.
But here’s the coolest part: I went to MySpace a couple weeks ago. Drove my little rental car to their office in Beverly Hills. And i had a pretty amazing meeting. Prior to the Impact Awards, we had never known anyone at MySpace, and we knew pretty much nothing about how it works or who to talk to when we have questions. So i had this meeting… and basically, they told me that they love what we’re doing, that they believe in it, that they see the good we’re doing. And we talked about how cool you guys are – you turned in the most votes they’ve ever seen for one month. So they see how much this means to you, how much you care. We talked about ways to work together. I pitched some ideas. (Anyone up for a “Stop the Bleeding” Secret Show?) We talked about the issues, about the hope that exists, all the folks that want to help… Lots of good stuff.
We shot an interview while I was there, and I’m excited for you guys to see it. That will be up in the next day or two. Promise. Not lying. Oh, and I didn’t meet Tom, but I did leave a shirt for him, and then I got an email saying he liked his new shirt. That made me smile.
GRAND FINALE:
Okay, there’s a lot more that I was planning to write about. Non-profit stuff. New TWLOHA folks – some of my favorite people in the world. And last week on the road with The Almost… But i am going to save that for another blog soon…
I want to close with two stories that have hit me really hard in the last few weeks…
“Laughter is the evidence of freedom.” Bono says that. It’s one of my favorite quotes. If that’s true, then we would assume that a guy like Owen Wilson is certainly free. We always see him laughing. He is always making us laugh. Like a lot of you, I was shocked by the news of Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt.
And in the same week, Mother Theresa was on the cover of Time Magazine. For those of you who don’t know, Mother Theresa is remembered throughout the world as one of the greatest people ever to live. Her service, generosity, humility and leadership in working with the poor and dying in Calcutta, India is known throughout the world. Within the Church, she is known as one of the greatest examples of the Christian life. In short, her life was undeniable.
This cover suggested something different: “The Secret Life of Mother Theresa” it said in bold type, “Her Secret Agony” the headline inside. The article spoke to a 50-year near-silent struggle, and painted a different picture. Mother Theresa in pain. Mother Theresa feeling far from God. I suppose the story was meant to shock. It debated faith and doubt…
I finished the story with a smile. “Wow, she was human after all. She was one of us. She was broken. She was real.” That was my response.
And in the same moment, Owen Wilson is on the cover of People, that word “secret” there again. “The Secret Pain of Owen Wilson”. And again, a different picture. Heartache. Addiction. Pain. But what about all the millions in the bank? What about all the fame and all the fans, all the people who love him? Surely, he could find another girl… There’s plenty of fish in the sea, right?
Or maybe life is really really hard. For pretty much everyone. And suddenly, Owen Wilson is one of us. A human being. A real person with real problems. Questions. Struggles. A person in need.
This could probably be it’s own essay, which it wasn’t meant to… I guess I just want to say that I find hope in this possibility that we all have a lot more in common than we might guess at first glance. These are people that our culture, people everywhere, place on pedestals. And yet these are people who could not escape the human condition. Broken people, people in need of hope.
Life is hard. Owen Wilson isn’t always laughing. Mother Theresa wasn’t always walking the streets of Calcutta feeling like a million bucks. I suppose the point I’m trying to make is this: We are very much the same. We are people in need. Life is hard for most of us most of the time. Our fragile hearts break. We all have a story, and in every story, in every life, there is so much going on below the surface. And perhaps there are moments where you pray, but God feels far away. Does He care? Does anyone care? Is there hope for us?
I say yes. We say yes.
I have been learning a lot about community. I believe it’s the idea that people need other people, that we need people who know us. We need relationships and places where we can be honest. We will face complex problems, complex questions, that require complex answers. It is certainly easier to stay silent, to skip this whole conversation. That’s what most people do. We don’t like dirty laundry. We prefer to wear our cleanest shirt. But we have to face our broken stuff. We have to do our laundry. We have to learn to heal, to let go, to grow. We were meant to live.
The process might be uncomfortable. It probably will. For some, it’s a phone call to a hotline, or a counseling office. “I’d like to make an appointment”, “I need to talk to someone” or maybe it’s simply sitting down with your parents, or a friend, or a teacher, for a conversation that’s long-overdue. Is there someone you trust? Is there someone who knows you? I hope so. I know I need that. I think we all need that.
A friend sent me a really difficult email a few days ago. When I read the subject, I knew what it was about. I was so freaked out that I didn’t read it for two days. I just let it sit in my inbox and I worried about it. I was afraid to face it.
And finally, I opened it. And it was painful. Some really hard truths. The kind that steal your sleep. But it was his last words that hit me the hardest: “Hope is not a myth”, he said. And that is the thing that has stayed with me, that possibility that this thing we talk about, it is true. And if something is true, it is certain. We can reach for it. Lean on it. Run to it. Hope is not a myth.
So wherever you are tonight, wherever this finds you… You are not alone. We are all a people in need. But there is so much hope. And hope is not a myth.
Peace to you tonight.
jamie
PS1: We posted a [url=http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=16855459]NEW VIDEO[/url] a couple weeks back. Highlights from Warped Tour St. Louis and Kansas City. Wise words from Paramore’s Hayley Williams and The Almost’s Aaron Gillespie, and there’s more coming soon…
PS2:
Some folks you’ve never heard of, but that needs to change:
[url=http://www.myspace.com/joshuamoore]Josh Moore[/url] – i spent last week riding in a blue bus with Josh. He was out with The Almost, opening those shows. This man can sing, and he is from the great state of North Carolina. His cover of Josh Ritter’s “Idaho” kept putting tears in my eyes.
[url=http://www.myspace.com/damionsuomi]Damion Suomi[/url] – Damion has played some of our Stop the Bleeding shows. Currently, he and I share an apartment in a warm place called Florida. He is one of my best friends, and one of the most special humans on planet Earth. His music is new to MySpace Land, so please go be his friend. And if you’ve been alive for 21 years or more, and you live in or around Los Angeles, you must go see him this Saturday (9/15) at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Give him a hug for me.
PS3: Anyone down to meet for coffee in Paris in a couple weeks? More on that soon.