My friend committed suicide several weeks ago. I need something to come out of this beyond utter devastation and sadness.
It felt like there was a communal grieving process that immediately followed Jeremiah's suicide, one in which so many members of our community had something with which to grapple - from the people who averted their gaze when they'd pass him on Elliot Street to those who loved him and tried to show it, to those who were harsh (back) to him, to those who gently distanced themselves.
I don't want this grappling to stop as time goes on. I don't want us to become acclimated to this new world in which Jeremiah is dead.
I firmly believe that nobody, regardless of how they responded to Jeremiah, caused his death.