Suicide and The Things We Carry: A Meditation on the Loss of a Father
C. Wess Daniels is an author, educator, and theologian living with his family in Greensboro, NC. This blog was established in 2004.
Teacher, author, Quaker, and public theologian. Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College. View more posts
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Very well said
Nice work.
Wonderful article Wess. I believe you have come a long way since that time in our lives! The burden is no longer ours to carry! This is what he chose to do with his life and that choice left him never meeting his grandchildren or his daughter in laws and son in law. We have all carried this act in our lives for way to long. He would be so proud of how far you have gone in your life……doing just what you said you would do at the age of 16. Now almost 20 years later you have been a great example to each and every sibling you have, not just the 5 you grew up with but also the 3 siblings that you did not grow up with! I am most proud of the father and husband you have become and I would say you have reached the place in your life where you can look back and be thankful for what you have been through because it Has made you the man you are today! And mostly I would say you are a wonderful son and oldest brother to 8 siblings! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this powerful but tragic remembrance. You end movingly,
“Because we all carry ghosts and sometimes they carry us.”
But sometimes they crush the spirit and hope out of us.
Thanks for sharing your struggles, because the story give me hope in my own current struggles.
Thanks for sharing this part of your story Wess.