Saved By The...
Social Network?
It was an hour after I had climbed in bed. 30 minutes after I last looked at the clock. I was pretty certain I was asleep. Well, I wasn't certain I was asleep until I was no longer sleeping.
My phone was ringing. I glanced at the caller id. My girlfriend from work, Spazz, was calling. The only reason she would be calling at that hour would be an emergency. I was instantly awake. "Hello?"
"Brisk's girlfriend just left him," she panickedly told me.
"What?" I asked.
"His girlfriend just left him. And he updated his status on <h;random social networking site> to 'too bad suicide is so permanent.' And now he's not answering his phone."
My heart started pounding. This, I'm pretty certain, I could not handle. I tried his phone, decided to try his home phone (which I thought I had—turns out I didn't), and finally had her call him again. He answered. He promised to not do anything stupid. Spazz worried that she shouldn't have called. That he didn't want anyone to call. The (former) psych major in me stepped up to the plate: "People who are actually going to kill themselves don't update their social networking statuses. It was a cry for help." "Ok, but should I have called?" "He has only 2 friends on this social site. Yes, you should have called. He needed to know that someone was out there. That someone loves him." Sometimes having been a psych major helps me through life. This was one of those times.
Amazingly, Brisk showed up at work today. When I saw him at our afternoon break he was crying. I offered him a hug and he said it would only make him cry more.
We decided to take him out and get him very drunk. I know, the irony of me participating in this activity is not lost on anyone. But, when the only friends you have are people you know from video gaming, and the three people at work who don't really care about your flaws and oddly, inexplicably, love you anyway? Sometimes the super religious person has to just suck it up and go to the bar with you. He couldn't go out tonight, so we promised him that tomorrow we'd go.
Chatting with Cyclist post-break he indicated that he didn't feel that we should be the ones stepping up here. "Um," I told him, "we're kind of his only friends. It's exactly our place to be stepping up here." If not us, who?
Also, who every thought a stupid social networking site would be the cry for help?
Also, also, I've been resisting joining this stupid site. Now, I think I might have to.
It was an hour after I had climbed in bed. 30 minutes after I last looked at the clock. I was pretty certain I was asleep. Well, I wasn't certain I was asleep until I was no longer sleeping.
My phone was ringing. I glanced at the caller id. My girlfriend from work, Spazz, was calling. The only reason she would be calling at that hour would be an emergency. I was instantly awake. "Hello?"
"Brisk's girlfriend just left him," she panickedly told me.
"What?" I asked.
"His girlfriend just left him. And he updated his status on <h;random social networking site> to 'too bad suicide is so permanent.' And now he's not answering his phone."
My heart started pounding. This, I'm pretty certain, I could not handle. I tried his phone, decided to try his home phone (which I thought I had—turns out I didn't), and finally had her call him again. He answered. He promised to not do anything stupid. Spazz worried that she shouldn't have called. That he didn't want anyone to call. The (former) psych major in me stepped up to the plate: "People who are actually going to kill themselves don't update their social networking statuses. It was a cry for help." "Ok, but should I have called?" "He has only 2 friends on this social site. Yes, you should have called. He needed to know that someone was out there. That someone loves him." Sometimes having been a psych major helps me through life. This was one of those times.
Amazingly, Brisk showed up at work today. When I saw him at our afternoon break he was crying. I offered him a hug and he said it would only make him cry more.
We decided to take him out and get him very drunk. I know, the irony of me participating in this activity is not lost on anyone. But, when the only friends you have are people you know from video gaming, and the three people at work who don't really care about your flaws and oddly, inexplicably, love you anyway? Sometimes the super religious person has to just suck it up and go to the bar with you. He couldn't go out tonight, so we promised him that tomorrow we'd go.
Chatting with Cyclist post-break he indicated that he didn't feel that we should be the ones stepping up here. "Um," I told him, "we're kind of his only friends. It's exactly our place to be stepping up here." If not us, who?
Also, who every thought a stupid social networking site would be the cry for help?
Also, also, I've been resisting joining this stupid site. Now, I think I might have to.
posted by granola girl at 9:26 pm
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