Dear Future President,

America has a problem. Each year 42,773 Americans take their own lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, now even more people die of suicide than from car accidents. This is a serious issue our society has. Everyone needs to help if we want this issue to get better. It is vital that we have help from our president and government. It will take a lot of work, but I believe it is something we could help to accomplish. I’m addressing this issue because it is something that has affected my life, and I think it is very important. This problem is something we could definitely help fix, even if we can not eliminate it completely. Prevention of suicide is very necessary. We need to have more hope, bring more awareness to suicide, and be better friends.

America is lacking hope. People are much more pessimistic than they are optimistic. A large majority of the problems our country struggles with could be helped by just increasing our outlook on life. Suicide is one of those problems that could be benefited a lot by this. People need to have hope. We need to see the glass half-full, rather than half-empty. Parents and leaders need to be examples of this. If our president was a good example of having hope, it definitely would rub off on our country. It is crucial to help those who are having a rough time, and then also help them to see the positive. Even when life is dreary, there is always hope for the future. Many people think that this would only annoy and frustrate the people who are struggling, but balancing being positive and helping them to see the good, with being a good friend and someone they can talk to and relate with will be beneficial. With a balance of both of those it could definitely help. Many people have seen the movie, Pollyanna. Pollyanna is a great example of having a positive outlook on life. She plays the “glad game,” which is when something goes wrong or is not the best, she finds something good in the situation. She is always able to find something. Many people assume that Pollyanna’s attitude does not solve a lot of real-world problems. They would believe that telling people to toughen up and be positive is not the proper way to handle this issue. I see where they are coming from, but at the same time although this is not the only way we should try to help people, it is always good to help people look on the brighter side. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel can be very effective. Pollyanna’s glad game can be very helpful. Even in the worst of situations there is always something. I think this is a great example of being positive and believing that there is hope. I promise that life will get better. Having hope and helping others to see hope are great ways to help prevent suicidal thoughts.

More awareness needs to be brought to suicide. People do not know enough about suicide. It is especially important to be educated about the warning signs of suicide. Many deaths could be prevented if people knew how to watch for the signs and what to do when they see them. Many people do not know what to do or who to tell, even if they are able to recognize the signs. I think we need to do a better job at educating America regarding suicide. This dilemma could be helped a lot if our president and government were more involved. If our president and government were more open about this subject, it could set an example to the rest of America. Schools could do a better job to educate in classes. There could be more assemblies. Many would claim that this could put someone with suicidal thoughts over the edge, but I believe that if done the right way and very carefully it could really help. It is much more profitable to educate as many as possible about suicide, than not address the issue at all. The more people who are educated and aware, the more people we will have working with us to better this obstacle. If parents were educated, then they could teach their children. The more knowledge people have about the subject, the more comfortable they would feel about being able to help someone. If this is went about with caution, bringing awareness to suicide could be very helpful in trying to eliminate suicide.

It is essential that we are better friends. Having a good friend who someone feels like they can talk to, can be the biggest factor in determining what that person chooses to do with their life. Many have said, “be the kind of friend you would like to have for yourself.” This is something we should always remember. We need to be someone our friends feel like they could come and talk to. Being open with our friends about suicide is extremely necessary. Our teenage years are the years we are trying to find ourselves but want more than anything to feel accepted, loved, and cared about; sometimes we just can not see how loved we are. Friends make the biggest impacts on one another’s lives. I have a friend who was going through a really hard time in her life and faced depression as well as suicidal thoughts. She was not able to recognize how many people cared about her, and she often felt depressed. It was very important that my friends and I really reached out to her and went beyond to make sure she really knew that we loved her. I think that was so important that we were there for her, so she would not feel alone. Our job was to be open with her and make sure she knew that she could talk to us. Being a good friend to her was exactly what she needed. I learned a lot from this experience. On the other hand, not only is it important to be good friends, but to be nice to everyone, even if we do not consider them a friend. Leaders, parents, and teachers need to be better examples of that. For example, with this current election, both candidates are terribly mean and rude to each other. This needs to stop. We can not tell children to be nice to everyone, while the leaders of our own country go and beat each other up. Being nicer to each other would be a great start in the right direction. Being nice and being a good friend is likely the most important factor in preventing suicide. It is absolutely necessary to be the type of person that people feel like they can come and talk to. Be a friend to everyone; you never know what they are going through.

As you can see, suicide is definitely a problem today. There is no way to completely get rid of this problem, but there are ways to improve it. If this issue is going to get better we are going to need help from parents, teachers, leaders, and friends. Everyone must work together if we want to accomplish anything. Being a positive society can result in a lot of good. It is important to remember that we have it better than most. Help others see how much potential they have, and that they have a lot to hope for. As a society we should bring more awareness on how to handle suicide, how to watch for the signs, and what to do once we know that someone has those thoughts. It is crucial to be good friends. It is important that we are the type of people that are kind, open, and help others to see that they can talk to us. If we do all these things, America will have a lot less suicides. It would be a better place to live in. This is something that will be very hard, but through hard work I know it can be accomplished. It is definitely something worth fighting for.