Whyyy, Alex?

It's very troubling when someone from your "work family" dies.  It's even more tragic when it's suicide.  We were struck with this tragedy in my BigBox Store this past week.   

A young man who I personally thought of as an "old soul" died Thursday, and the hardest part is the unanswered questions we all have:  "Did I miss something?"  "Is there something I could have done to help?" 

From DoSomething:  "In the U.S., suicide rates are highest during the spring. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15 to 24-year-olds and 2nd for 24 to 35-year-olds. On average, 1 person commits suicide every 16.2 minutes. Each suicide intimately affects at least 6 other people."

Alex was a young man who had ideals of climbing up the retail ladder, and held many positions in my store.  At the start of each shift, he would stop in my office to chat, mostly about work things but we shared other things as well.  He was young, ambitious and likable.   And I feel as if I didn't have a clue.  Granted, we weren't exceptionally close; our age range reduced the number of topics we had in common.  Our last conversation was about the new iPhone and iWatch he'd just purchased.  



The unanswerable question is "Whyyy, Alex?"

He will be missed in my store, 
and even more, missed by me.
Alex was intelligent and hard working - 
he would have had a great future ahead of him.



National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255
Available 24 hours everyday