Letter to the Leaders of the Future

Dear friends,

I just watched a show on TV that scared me half to death. It was Without a Trace and this kid was so unhappy that he disappeared. This was what got me: The kid tried to hang himself and as the FBI is looking for him, it shows him hanging from a rope fighting for air. They saved him before he died, but it made me realize that teenagers die everyday by killing themselves because they are unhappy. And what got me was that they are around my age and the show scared me. I just want to lift up all of teens that are so sick of life that they would even think for a second of ending it and thinking that that would be better than living. It was so scary to watch on TV knowing that it wasn't real. I can't believe how it must be to be the one hanging there trying to breathe and slowly dying. It just made me want to cry.

It brought me back to the song bythe Christian band, Casting Crowns that has a really strong message. If we are God's body, than why aren't we doing anything to stop this from happening? Why aren't we letting these teens know that they are loved? Why are we encouraging them to kill themselves by laughing with the crowd? What if it was your friend or just someone you knew from school? We can change the world if we just tried.

My grandma has a quote on her wall. It says, “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.” It is so true.

I read story about a boy who was bringing everything from his locker home and another boy saw him and helped him and then invited him over to his house. The boy with all of his things was going to kill himself that day and he was bringing all of his stuff home so his parents wouldn't have to do it later. The boy who invited him over made the first boy feel wanted and he changed his mind and is alive today. This is a true story. These things don't just happen in movies or books, they happen in real life.
I have a challenge for you today. If you see someone who looks like they are lonely say hi and introduce yourself. You may change their life and I bet yours will be changed as well. You don't have to do this, but I encourage you to because you will be a changed person knowing you may have saved that person's life.

I know this was long, but I thank all of you that read it. You are all precious in God's eyes even if you don't feel like it. Don’t end your life just because you think it will be better please. I’m begging you to talk to someone about how you feel. I hate to see people die by their own hand even if it's just on TV. So please be praying for these teens.

Samantha Pedersen