By his own hand

This weekend my mom let me know that a high school acquaintance of mine recently died "by his own hand". I was never close friends with David. He was a year ahead of me, but we had band together, and band was like family we spent so much time together. I always respected him for his work ethic, for his intellect, and for his rather dry ironic sense of humor. He was one of those people that you meet and you feel kin to, even if you never form a relationship, because you see something of yourself in them. I still see something of myself in David, even now, and I see something that could have happened to me a few years back when I was struggling with my own depression. I just want to put this out there: if you are struggling with depression, I know that it seems like life will never get better, but it will. I know that you can't see it right now, but it really will. Life is the most precious gift that each one of us is given. Don't sacrifice yours. Get help. Go to a doctor, get counseling. Don't be ashamed, and don't give up. It really does get better. If you are the friend or family of someone who suffers from depression, I can't tell you what to do to help, because everyone is different. But I can tell you what not to do: don't give up on your person. Don't alienate them. Please be there for them. Sometimes all a depressed person needs is something to live for, or something to show them that life can be sweet. For me it was my cat, Sugar. For your person, find the reason!