By Daniel Getz, International Blogger,
This morning I happened to hear a news reporter state the
following: “I once attended a funeral for a two year old. Sometimes in life there are certain things
that impact us forever. This was one of
those times.”
Such is the case of the suicide of my 20 year old friend,
Brogan Guyton, who was tragically killed at the beginning of this year by
throwing himself in front of one of the DART trains after contemplating it for
about 4 hours prior to his final decision.
I had seen what I know now to be signs of his impending
death about 3 weeks earlier when I spotted him in the West End very disheveled
and obviously distraught; a sharp contrast to the energetic and optimistic
young man I had casually met a month or so earlier.
When I learned of his death in the Dallas Morning News, I
swore to myself at that time that I would NEVER let that happen again…at least
not on MY “watch”.
So this morning when I met another young man while having
breakfast that is 18 and was visibly “upbeat” despite residing in a shelter and
having no job, though reasonably
discouraged, I quickly realized this was a second chance for me to make a
difference in a young man’s life.
What I have is nothing special. But I do know people that know people that
can mentor and help this man embrace his manhood and become a productive
contributor to society. So I am meeting
him (we’ll call him “Tommy”) again tomorrow morning over coffee and we'll go from
there.
I’d like to challenge you to do the same as I. You don’t have to look very hard to spot a
“Tommy” on the streets of Dallas , TX
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