“But it’s the life I dreamed I have/ The love I find in my grasp/ The words I could share with someone/ Those thoughts keep the breath in my lungs/ That tomorrow my hope will become to feel a love that can’t be undone/ And save a wretch like me” -Emery (I Never Got To See The West Coast)
The lights were cloudy and, and the energy was intoxicating. The entire night was more vivid than anything that I had encountered in so long. A former simple band that became larger than life and a tad embarrassing swept the stage of the Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte, North Carolina for an evening to not be forgotten. The bass player stepped forward and spoke words directly into my heart, “I know that some of you are really struggling right now. I know that right now that you think this is it. You think that it doesn’t get any better than right now, but I promise that it does get better. And if you hold on, in a few years, you will look back and be so glad that you stayed.”
That night in Charlotte was a serious turning point for me. I was sixteen and so confused. I never thought about taking my own life, but I remember being depressed and feeling like I was falling into a big black hole. I was trying to figure out life, and who I was in relationship to it all. I just didn’t know what to do or who to talk to. If you ever mentioned depression to adults or classmates, most of the time, they would think that you were crazy. But that night, I felt like I was not so alone, and that someone had been there before. Someone knew my pain.
I found To Write Love On Her Arms (http://www.twloha.com/) almost six years ago through a friend. I remembering reading The Story (http://www.twloha.com/vision/story/) and wishing that this non-profit could have existed when I was sixteen. Their mission statement is simply, “To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.” A huge part of the explosion of TWLOHA has been the large support of many bands. Because at it always does, it starts with music. Music changes lives.
I just read an article about a fifteen year old girl that committed suicide because of bullies at her school. It shattered my heart that some people who will be greatly insignificant in a few years to this girl were able to destroy a life. I wish that she could have held on longer, so that she could see that tomorrow is another day-a day that she could take back and make her own.
You never know the people’s lives that you will change or effect. So, as we move around, meet new friends, say good-bye to old loves, and follow our dreams, we should make sure that we are always leaving people better off than when we found them; we should be writing love on everyone’s arms.
