1.  In your own words describe a situation that you know about in which someone overcame some type of life-threatening obstacle and who has shared their stories in a way that you found inspirational. It might be a family member, friend, member of your local community, a sports hero, celebrity, or other major public figure

I was sixteen years when I first saw my friend Mona cut herself with a blade. I watched in disbelief as blood flew down her wrist, and it seemed she was not bothered at all. From that moment, I knew that it was the beginning of her downward spiral; as this would go on for a couple of years. She had even contemplated committing suicide as she did not see any value in life, her friends despised and laughed behind her back. This was not good, and I knew something needed to be done before she could do any further harm to her body. She would speak to me about how shameful she felt about this new addiction. Now and then she would hide her cuts underneath wristbands. Her father soon noticed the cuts and asked her about it. As expected she lied that it was an incident with the cats, but he did not believe her and suggested counseling program.

I would accompany her to these sessions which clearly revealed the extent of her depression. Her counselor knowing how grave the situation was did her best to make Mona confesses her addiction and why she started it. It took Mona weeks to finally reveal her depression causes which related to her parents’ divorce that would see her become a laughing stalk, being secluded and unwanted by friends. The counselor requested for a sit down with her parents and asked them if they were aware of their daughter’s situation. They agreed to continue her counseling session together with Mona until she finally got over the depression. This gave her some hope knowing that her parents were there for her through this journey. She underwent training and fun activities that engaged her mind and kept her off sad moments. When I visited her after the final session, she was a changed girl, she no longer used blades and her approach to life was positive. I thought this was inspirational, in that she fought to put her life back together and in the end succeeded. There are many people out there with depression problems and still, have not received help or some who receive it give up the recovery process.

2. Explain in detail why your culture finds that particular story inspiring? Would this be the same response for every culture? Why or why not?

Some of these unfortunate events in life such as the above story do not happen because of own choice, but other factors determine it.

In my culture, learning of success stories in overcoming depression as a life-threatening condition is significant. The reason is depression encourages negative life decisions that once started may prove difficult to abandon. I believe other cultures should embrace such inspiring stories because many youths today face this challenge probably because of poor friend choice, lack of money, drug abuse, and even death of a close friend or loved one. It is, therefore, prudent to appreciate the condition, and find ways of making it right before our young people succumb to its effects. In each person’s life, there are certain things we chose to forget while others we want to have them in our memories forever. Thapar, Collishaw, Pine and Thapar (2012) state that not everyone can be lucky to distance themselves from other unfortunate events or decisions in their lives. Losing a valuable asset in life, for instance, happiness could change the life of an individual to become something they did not want to be. Think about it, is this the direction we want our young people to take not knowing what lies ahead of them? I believe not, and for this reason, every culture should find help for individuals who experience life-threatening conditions such as depression as it could lead to engagement in criminal activities and even death.

Reference

Thapar, A., Collishaw, S., Pine, D. S., & Thapar, A. K. (2012). Depression in adolescence. The Lancet, 379(9820), 1056-1067.

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