Alright, listen up, y’all. We gonna talk about somethin’ real serious today, somethin’ that’s been happenin’ too much lately. We’re talkin’ ’bout these football fellas, these strong, young men, takin’ their own lives. Yeah, you heard me right. Suicide. It’s a damn shame, it is.
I seen on the TV, read in them papers, lots of these football players, the ones runnin’ and catchin’ and smashin’ into each other, they ain’t doin’ so good inside. They might look tough on the outside, all muscles and whatnot, but inside, somethin’s eatin’ at ’em. They call it depression, this sadness that just won’t quit. Like a dark cloud hangin’ over ya, day in and day out.
- They get scared, all the time, for no reason.
- They can’t sleep, tossin’ and turnin’ all night.
- They don’t wanna eat, even their favorite foods.
- They can’t think straight, can’t even enjoy the simple things no more.
It’s like their minds are playin’ tricks on ’em, tellin’ ’em they ain’t good enough, that they’re failures. And it ain’t just the older fellas neither. They sayin’ it’s the young’uns too, the ones just startin’ out, 18 to 35 years old. Imagine that! Barely grown men, and they already feelin’ like they got nothin’ left to live for. That’s just plain wrong.
I heard about this one fella, Robert Enke, threw himself in front of a train. Can you believe it? A train! And another one, Gary Speed, hanged himself. These weren’t nobodies, mind you. These were big-time players, the kind everyone looked up to. But even them, with all the fame and money, they couldn’t outrun that darkness. It makes you think, don’t it?
And it ain’t just them two. I heard tell of five more players from that NFL, talkin’ ’bout how they was feelin’ all anxious and scared and sad. One fella, Brown, he was doin’ real good, havin’ a great season, then poof! Gone. Just like that. It’s like somethin’ just snuffed out their light, you know?
Now, I ain’t no doctor, and I don’t pretend to understand all this fancy talk about mental health. But I know a thing or two about hardship. Life ain’t easy, never was. But these young men, they got so much pressure on ’em. Pressure to perform, pressure to be perfect, pressure to live up to everyone’s expectations. It’s enough to break a fella, it really is. And when they do break, ain’t nobody there to pick up the pieces.
We gotta do better, y’all. We gotta stop pretendin’ like these fellas are super human. They ain’t. They’re just men, with feelin’s and fears just like the rest of us. We gotta start talkin’ about this depression thing, make it so these fellas ain’t ashamed to ask for help. They ain’t weak for feelin’ this way. It takes more courage to ask for help than it does to pretend you’re okay when you’re not.
We gotta teach these young’uns that it’s alright to cry, alright to feel scared, alright to not be okay. We gotta tell ’em that there’s always hope, always someone who cares. We gotta let ’em know they ain’t alone in this fight. ‘Cause it is a fight, a fight for their lives. And it’s a fight we gotta help ’em win.
So next time you see one of these football players on TV, don’t just see a strong, tough athlete. See a human being. See someone who might be hurtin’ inside. And remember, a little kindness and understanding can go a long way. It might even save a life. And that’s somethin’ worth fightin’ for, ain’t it?
It’s a sad state of affairs when young men, with so much potential, feel like they got no way out. We gotta be there for them, as a community, as human beings. We gotta let them know that their lives matter, that they are loved, and that there is help available. It’s time to break the silence and start talking about mental health, not just in football, but everywhere. Because nobody should have to suffer in silence, especially not these young fellas who give so much to the game, and to us.
Tags: football, suicide, depression, mental health, NFL, athletes, anxiety, fear, young men, help
