“If I fail this test, I’m going to kill myself.” “My computer crashed! I’m going to kill myself!” “If I was in that class, I’d kill myself.” Do these sentences sound familiar to you? Chances are, you have heard people use these expressions many times during your time as a Maggie Walker student. It might have made you uncomfortable, or you may not have thought twice about it. Maybe, in frustration, you have uttered those words yourself.

“I’m going to kill myself,” has become a common phrase of irritation among our generation, but not many people fully understand the harmful baggage it carries. We are in the midst of a serious mental health crisis in the Western world. According to Time magazine, suicide rates have increased by almost 60% since 2007, and the rate of depression in people aged 12-25 is climbing faster than that of any other age group. Additionally, the National Institude of Mental Health states that suicide is the third most common cause of death for American teenagers, taking more lives than heart disease and cancer combined. Despite these horrific statistics, many people do not believe mental health is a real problem, and saying “I’m going to kill myself” in a casual manner further desensitizes people to a situation that should be addressed seriously. Similar to the story of the boy who cried wolf, if people constantly hear phrases jumping to the conclusion of suicide, they may not notice when someone truly expresses suicidal intent.

At this point you may be thinking, “Ansley, calm down. It’s just a joke.” However, not all jokes are funny, and certainly not all jokes are appropriate. Would you joke about hijacking a plane right after the tragedy of 9/11 happened? If not, why would you joke about suicide when roughly 132 lives are lost to suicide each day in the US alone? The person who overhears your edgy joke could have lost a loved one to suicide, or even struggled with suicidal thoughts themself. While it may be a joking matter to you, “I’m going to kill myself” is a meaningful, distressing, and very real phrase to many people. 

I understand that many people say things like that without thinking, and it can be hard to remove such phrases from your vocabulary. However, there are more creative ways you can express your exasperation. Instead of saying, “I’m going to kill myself,” how about saying, “I’m going to scream,” “I’m going to cry,” “I’m going to snap,” or “I’m going to lose it”? All of those phrases get the same point across without being triggering or insensitive to the very real issue of suicide. So, next time you fail a test, your computer crashes, or you’re in a particularly awful class, choose your words wisely. You never know who’s listening, or what they might be going through.