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29567. Jenerator - 1/7/2014 12:24:28 AM So, over the break, we were all trying to decide which service we wanted to attend on Christmas Eve.
My mom and I decided we would go back to Hunter's Glen Baptist Church for an evening service - it's where both she and I were baptized. I hadn't been to any service there in a couple of years and figured it would be great to see familiar faces and listen to Dr. Kim Hall teach.
(I transferred memberships to a different Baptist church when I moved.)
Anyway - I google searched for service times and the results were shocking. The first story listed was about Dr. Hall's passing.
He committed suicide in 2011.
I couldn't and still can't believe it. Dr. Hall was the smartest, kindest, most incredible Christian man I have ever known. He was a true academic and a gifted teacher in all subjects.
Honestly, he was and is the standard I use when comparing all other pastors.
I read everything I could find about it - which wasn't much - and I was and am left with such a feeling of loss. I can't explain it. plus, I feel guilty. Why didn't I know about it? How come no one, not one single person, told me?
I even found a letter I wrote him thanking him for helping me understand certain theological questions I had. I didn't mail it, and I regret that so much. What if receiving a letter of gratitude would have helped him? So many unanswered questions.
One of the many wonderful things about him was his compassion for others. He served voluntarily as a police and fire chaplain because he wanted to help others when faced with the loss of a loved one. It takes a very special person to be able to comfort people in those kinds of situations, and he absolutely had that gift.
To know that he took his own life and left behind a wife and two sons is so contradictory to who he was.
Rest in Peace, Dr. Hall
29568. judithathome - 1/7/2014 12:07:09 PM Jen, I am so sorry you have lost a mentor and a friend....the way you speak of him now is a testament to his worth to you and that is all that matters.
I am certain he admired, respected, and remembered you, just as you did him. 29569. Trillium - 1/7/2014 12:55:06 PM Jen, I'm sorry for your loss. Dr. Hall sounds like an excellent and honorable person who brought a lot to his family, his community and the individuals who worked with him.
....A local faith-based organization sponsors weekend training sessions to deal with an array of issues related to their women's shelter. Last summer a social worker from the hospital provided "QPR" suicide prevention training for volunteers. QPR
I was grateful to have the opportunity to participate. We were paired off to practice questioning and responding to each other, and I was partnered to practice with a woman who was amazingly good. When I complimented her, she told me that's what she does nearly once a week, for real. She has been running a shelter for over a decade, and often has to respond to hints of intention to suicide, especially around the winter holidays.
Down the road, this QPR training is something that your church (or school) might be interested in working with... many people shy from even mentioning suicide or noticing the intention, but that's a first step to intervening effectively. I wish peace to Dr. Hall's family; suicide in the family is a hard experience to deal with, and they aren't alone.
Question, Persuade, Refer
29570. Jenerator - 1/22/2014 12:00:49 AM Thank you, Judith and Trillium.
I have since learned that he had struggled with depression for years and was trying to handle it on his own. He believed that he couldn't tell others of his struggles - that he was expected to be stronger, 'better'.
29571. Trillium - 2/4/2014 5:47:49 PM Jen, one of my kids sent the following link to me. I found it very moving, also thought-provoking. It occurred to me that others might find some comfort and understanding in this blog, written by a girlfriend of the late Ovik Banerjee.
To clarify, the blog writer is not my daughter. However, my daughter shared some academic activities with Mr. Banerjee, and respected him very much. Clearly Ovik well-liked, beloved even by many people whose lives he had touched (similar to your Dr. Hall).
Mr. Banerjee seems to have shared some other traits with Dr. Hall: comfortable with giving, but less comfortable with receiving appreciation that he well deserved, and which might have recharged him. It is a loss to the entire community when good people burn out and leave this life too early. I wish they could have been persuaded to stay and thrive... much good came from their short lives, and I hope that good things will come from honoring their memory.
Ovik Banerjee 29572. iiibbb - 2/4/2014 9:29:47 PM The best description I've ever read about depression.
Part I
Part II
and
cake 29573. Trillium - 2/5/2014 7:15:29 AM oooh, good.
And the "Cake" has over a thousand comments, really hit a nerve! Made me laugh too. One of my brothers had a birthday cake that I took a swipe at when I was under six... but I didn't go whole hog like Allie. Really great writing. And I like the copyright monster at the end, too. Thanks 29574. iiibbb - 2/5/2014 10:36:42 AM The depression one is meaningful to me because I have bounced off that boundary a couple of times in my life. Almost NNNo feelings, everything the same. 29575. alistairconnor - 2/7/2014 12:03:34 AM Brilliant!
Hyperbole and a Half I spent months shut in my house, surfing the internet on top of a pile of my own dirty laundry which I set on the couch for "just a second" because I experienced a sudden moment of apathy on my way to the washer and couldn't continue. And then, two weeks later, I still hadn't completed that journey. But who cares - it wasn't like I had been showering regularly and sitting on a pile of clothes isn't necessarily uncomfortable. But even if it was, I couldn't feel anything through the self hatred anyway, so it didn't matter. JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE
I consider myself a fundamentally happy person. I laughed a lot reading the first part (will read the others...) because I identify with it so completely.
(I haven't been severely depressed for oh... seven or eight years. And it didn't really count anyway because there were sound, objective, non-clinical reasons for being sad.) 29576. Trillium - 2/7/2014 10:41:41 PM I pointed out "Hyperbole" to a friend (retired medical doctor) at the library who first laughed, then said "she's out of her mind" then "she's brilliant and I want the book!"
Also he said that he learned from it.
**
And now it's been linked and sent to several other people. Good find 29577. iiibbb - 2/8/2014 1:31:17 AM the other most classic post from Hyperbole 29578. arkymalarky - 2/8/2014 6:27:37 PM Hilarious. I think Mose must've written that. But they have 3 dogs. Three mental cases, each with a different pathology. We can't interact with our son in law's dog after 7 or 8 years. He has to be shut up before they can open the door to anyone. Mose's inner circle is defined by whether they've been bitten by Earl. 29579. Ms. No - 2/9/2014 5:50:44 AM must...stop...laughing...can't...breathe...gasp...wheeze 29580. Trillium - 2/15/2014 4:47:55 AM Followup on the library guy who wanted the Allie Brosh book: he went to the bookstore to check it out, and says he was disappointed. He was surprised that print is so different from computer pages in effect.
Whatever, Brosh is EXCELLENT on the computer screen, even if the book doesn't provoke the same effects. 29581. iiibbb - 3/17/2014 3:08:53 AM Fred Phelps is on his deathbed 29582. arkymalarky - 3/17/2014 3:24:39 AM Should we go with big signs yell at him?
Sorry. I couldn't resist. 29583. judithathome - 3/17/2014 6:47:45 AM If nothing else, let's try to make his funeral.
29584. Trillium - 6/26/2015 6:25:22 AM Years ago Sukey started a "Demonizing Religion" forum which I enjoyed very much.
Some weeks ago I came across something surprising that I would have wanted to add to that forum, but of course the forum is long disappeared. For whoever might remember it, though --
... do you remember Eldridge Cleaver? ("Soul on Ice")? And Gladys Knight (Gladys Knight and the Pips?)
They are both Latter-Day Saints, believe me or not. Here's a song by Gladys Knight --
"I Am A Child of God" by Gladys Knight
Cleaver: http://www.ldsfilm.com/movies/Panther.html 29585. Trillium - 6/26/2015 6:30:46 AM I wanted to get the Cleaver LDSFilm on a workable link but am too tired and need to get to sleep. Cleaver is deceased, and the link says Cleaver was inactive in the church in his later years, but never disavowed his membership.
Surprising that with all the adventurous and educated people we had roaming that forum, no one ever posted about this (that I recall) 29586. alistairconnor - 6/26/2015 3:48:59 PM Stop! In the name of love!
The Supremes have a new hit! Though they're not all singing from the same hymn book:
KENNEDY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which GINSBURG, BREYER, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined.
ROBERTS, C. J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA
and THOMAS, JJ., joined. SCALIA,J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which THOMAS, J., joined. THOMAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined. ALITO, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA and THOMAS, JJ., joined.
Just skimming the dissent :
Roberts : trendy social engineering.
Thomas : un-American.
Alito : None of our business.
Scalia : I will read in full, when I have the time, for shits and giggles.
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