Boys to Men

                                Dear Supporters,

               My original plan for today was to blog about the emotional interview of Evelyn Lozada by Lyanla Vanzant; HOWEVER, Something more pressing came to my attention this afternoon when my adult children shared with me that a young man who they went to high school with; who my son played basketball with in high school, left a convention in downtown Dallas Saturday afternoon where my son spoke with him briefly and by all indications went home and hung himself! This young man was 28 years old¸ the same age as my son Jason; I will not mention his name out of respect for his family because as of this writing they had not buried him.

 

                According to Psychology Today young men are more likely to commit suicide than young women. How and why does something like this happen? According to one study the possible main factors for suicide revealed by the participants were: Coping with boy-girl relationships, family issues and stress from school work. More male than female participants indicated relationships with the opposite sex as a contributing factor to the suicide problem. More than any other ethnic group, Chinese students mentioned school work as a main factor in suicide. The same study shows that young men are less likely to seek help during times of emotional distress.

 

                How much pain could this young man have been in to take his life in this manner? As parents we all live for the day when our children leave home and start to make a life for themselves. But how do we prepare them for what they are really going to face in this world? When life gets hard, and it will, what will our children have to fall back on to insure they have the tools to work through the problems of this world? I do not have  all the answers, oh how I wish I did, I can only tell my children to stay close to God in times of trouble (Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me) John 14:1.

                My heart goes out to this young man’s family; I cannot imagine the pain they are suffering right now, the tremendous loss and confusion that is the legacy of a violent and unexplainable tragedy like this one.  I don’t know about you but I still pray over my son, when he is looking and when he is not!

                This world is too hard for them to maneuver all alone; you have to pray on the full armor of God for them Mothers, especially if they are not doing it for themselves! (Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me) Psalm 23:4.

 

                                So on that sad note I leave you with this thought; our sons, although they grow in to men, they are never too big or too “grown" too worry about, too pray for or too offer support and  listen when they need an ear. No matter how hard the outside world will pressure you to let him be a man and work out his own problems, there is no reason we cannot let them be men and still love them, listen to his man dreams the same way we did when they were little boys. No mother should have to bury her child, ever, for any reason, NEVER!