Rebuilding Rob

I wanted to mention something that I stumbled across Sunday on Facebook. There was a guy, The Tar Heel, who I worked with “during my previous life“ when I was living down south. I only worked with him for about a year, but we had remained Facebook friends ever since. And even though we haven’t seen each other in 15 years, I was shocked and saddened to hear that he took his own life recently. His mother got an access to his Facebook account to break the news. It sounds like he basically cut off all his friends before the end. Reading the post from his mom, it sounded like she wasn’t terribly sensitive to the whole situation. But then again, she did mention that if she went into any more detail, she would just completely break down.

The fact is, it doesn’t really matter that I haven’t seen the Tar Heel in 15 years. It is truly a devastating loss any time anyone takes their own life; particularly more so when you knew the person.

I’m going to keep talking about mental health (specifically men’s mental health, as it pertains more to me) because quite frankly, we don’t talk about it enough. We don’t talk about the fact that men are more likely to take their own lives and women. Furthermore, when a man attempts to take his own life, his attempts to do so are typically much more violent than those women. For instance, a woman may swallow a bottle of pills whereas a man is more likely to shoot himself. And no, I don’t know how The Tar Heel did it.

We live in society where men are expected to deal with their lives to be becoming providers. Furthermore, this society is currently stripping away individual rights of women on an almost daily basis.

As I mentioned before, The Tar Heel and I weren’t terribly good friends. But from what I can remember, either from talking to him or seeing his social media post over the years, I’m not terribly surprised that it ended like this. I always had a feeling that there was something a little bit darker underneath the surface with him.

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please call the 988 Lifeline. It is absolutely free and completely. If you don’t want to actually speak to someone, you can text or even chat. I had a student of mine write me recently that she called the 988 lifeline and it probably saved her life. This world is better off for having you in it. You may not know it now. You may not see it now, but it is true.

There was a local DJ on the radio in Detroit in the late 1980s, The Electrifying Mojo. He’s something of a legend in Detroit radio. Every night as he closed his show, he would remind his listeners: “if you’re feeling like you’re at the end of your rope, don’t let go. Tie a knot and hang on!”

I didn’t plan on this becoming an entire post on its own, but these things happen. Besides, this is too important to not talk about.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
• The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie

The article “Tie a knot and hang on!” First appeared on Rebuilding Rob.