Words Can Change Someone 's Life

In the United States, suicide is the third leading cause of death among persons between the ages of 10-24 [1]. In addition, a large percentage of adolescents consider committing suicide. The Centers for Disease Control found that 16% of students in high schools nationwide reported seriously considering suicide, while 8 percent reported trying to take their own life [1]. One of the difficulties in addressing the issue of suicide is the stigma attached to it. People are unwilling to discuss it publically. [1]

"More people in the general population die from suicide than homicide in North America. There are almost 11 suicide deaths each year for every 100,000 people living in the United States, and for every suicide, there are between 8 and 25 attempts" (Brent 4203). Based on this research, the great effect of suicide is displayed. According to dictionary.com, suicide can be defined as "the intentional taking of one's own life." Suicide is a major issue for all people, but it most obviously affects those ranging from ten to twenty-four. People need to understand the tremendous ramifications caused from suicide everyday; when people take their lives, others lose their loved ones. Suicide, one of the leading causes of death of numerous people each day, has reached a crisis point for adolescents and young adults, and it needs to be prevented.

Writing is one of the most important skills that I have learned throughout my years in school. I have learned that no matter how much I love or hate it, writing is a necessity; I might as well try to be good at it. Writing has been in my life for many years. There are many types of writing, educational writing and personal writing are two that I will mention in this essay. I have learned how to allow writing to help me in my daily life. When I began writing I hated it, however, I have learned the many uses of it, and it has become a huge part of my life.

I 've always liked writing. Even before I knew how to write I would make up stories and pretend to write them down. Each year in high school I 've written a multitude of essays on varying topics. I have selected three of these writings from each of my years in high school to examine as part of this rhetorical analysis of my writing history. As I 've grown older, my writing style has changed and I 've learned more about the world and developed my own personal writing voice more and more.

The topic I chose to write about is Physician-assisted suicide. My position on the topic is that I agree with physician-assisted suicide because it helps terminal ill people end their suffering faster than if they waited until the illness took their life away. Also, the terminal ill person decides that he/she wants to end his or hers life with a clear conscious knowing what is going to happen to them taking the physician-assisted suicide route to end their suffering. By the terminal ill person deciding that they want to end their life with physician-assisted suicide they are helping out their family. They help their family by reducing their pain that they feel and also by helping them financially because it is cheaper to end their life with

All of these statistics show how prominent suicide is in today’s society. To continue, a suicide note from a fourteen year old girl reads, “At least if I die they’ll put a plaque up in the school hall with my name on it” (“Teen Suicide: Prevention is Contagious, Too”). The sad note left by the teenagers is an example of how when a tragedy strikes, such as a classmate ending his or her life, people who were not even close to the victim come together and mourn, and to some, this could possibly be seen as another way people conform, during times of mourning. Suicide victims could possibly feel

Throughout the course of freshmen year I have developed different skills and opinions on writing. I feel I have created a more mature style of writing and a better understanding of literature. I have changed my view of writing over this semester and acquired a strong liking for it. The importance of writing has become more visible throughout the past few months. Writing is crucial in many aspects of a person’s life. I have grown to be a more powerful and well built writer throughout this course.

The recent death of Robin Williams, famous actor and comedian, has sparked some dialog about suicide. It seems that his death pried opened some eyes to see this silenced issue. Our society begins to talk about suicide more and more everyday. Not too long ago, my community faced several suicides. One of my friends killed herself in late September of 2013. Over the following year, three more suicides occurred in the surrounding schools. Those deaths were incredibly painful for family and friends, myself included. This brought realization to me, students, and parents in the county. It came to our attention that there was a problem rising, that is still growing, in our schools and homes. Suicide is often found in youth because it is a troubled time for most people that age, but Robin Williams death also brings attention to the increasing

Every suicide effects more than the individual’s life, in truth it impacts families, communities and economic well-being of our nation. According, Piscopo, Lipari, Cooney, and Glasheen, (2016) “Suicide is an important public health problem in the United States and a tragedy for all involved—families, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and communities. In 2014, suicide was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States overall.1 Among people aged 10 to 34, suicide was the second highest cause of death, and for those aged 35 to 54, it was the fourth highest cause of death” (p. 2).

I decided to do my discussion on a woman named Alexandra Lewicke, who suffered from severe depression and self-harm disorder. She was diagnosed as a teenager, when she was a junior in high school. She was constantly bullied by others and her grades were suffering immensely. She had to be admitted to the hospital twice. She had believed that her depression was caused by all of the negative things around her, but when she moved away and began college, she realized that wasn’t the case.Despite having found wonderful new friends, a loving boyfriend, and having perfect grades, Alexandra still had the dark shadow of depression in the back of her mind. Her feelings got worse and she contemplated suicide.She knew she needed help, and so her close friends

Imagine someone’s best friend dies. Later this person discovers that their friend commit suicide. Envision this person’s feelings and all of the painful thoughts and memories going through their mind. This person probably feels intense sadness and maybe even betrayal. Do not forget the suicide victim’s parents. Their own child felt worthless enough to kill themselves. The students at the victim’s school have confusion, start rumors, and gossip. All of the victim’s friends feel as if the suicide happened because of them. Everyone feels as if they could have done something to prevent this tragic event. Suicide is a social issue rising in severity. Each year, over a million people commit suicide throughout the world. Suicide has the name of a

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death mostly in the age of 16-24. Suicide is becoming major issue in United States. Rate of Suicide in teenagers is rising day by day. I believe the people who commit a suicide are selfish people because they don’t think about their friends and family. When I was in my senior year a friend of mine, Jassey committed the suicide. A day before that we both were working on our government project, everything was great. Next day of school, I was in my math class, doing my warmup questions, and was not listening to our daily announcement. Suddenly I heard that Jassey had committed a suicide, it was shocking. He committed a suicide because he broke up with his girlfriend. His death was so depressing and shocking.

This should be my 15th attempt at erasing/re-writing the intro of this write up. Suicide has been such an ostracized topic that one does not speak until it hits the news. I found it very hard to even think about how I was going to present my thoughts on it. Until, I feel like I speak to you directly, Yama Budhha, and hundreds of less known nevertheless equally important souls.

Writing has always played a huge role in my life. I’ve been reading writing for as long as I can remember as I have an immense love of reading. This love would grow into a love for writing as well; I still stumble upon journals and writings from my five-year-old self about the happenings in my kindergarten class. As time would go on I would discover academic writing, and how to convey my thoughts on what was the topic of student that particular year or semester in my schooling. Later, writing would become a constant for me, and a comfort; I was known to my friends as always having a journal, and a pen on my person. I learned to write down my feelings and my thoughts, song lyrics that were in my head, reflections for the day. I learned how

What I would like to accomplish with my paper would be to give my audience, not only a better understanding of some of the causes and effects of being suicidal, but also explain why people might criticize those who are suicidal, and the effects it has. I want my audience to be more aware so that if a member of my audience happens to be one of those who criticizes others for being suicidal, well, maybe I could change your mind.