Yo what's up it's me. My eyes fucking burn my dudes. Time for review:
HelloThereHowAreYou: Yeah, man, that's fair. I've never shot a gun, but I've seen people do it while I just kind of mull around in the back and it seems pretty fun. Thanks for the review.
TW: Discussions of suicide and child abuse. Not graphic at all, but perhaps worth a mention.
So, America thought to himself as he put his list down. A few ragtag organizations, 'Take away guns', and 'mental health programs'- everything he'd written seemed rather useless. He read about each option for a while anyway, not really taking in any information, but after a few hours he noticed something sort of odd: everyone seemed to talk about gun deaths like the majority came from mass shootings. Whether that was indifference on some level, such as 'Self defense is more important, but I'll send my thoughts and prayers tonight anyway' or whether it was 'Yo I don't wanna die in a mass shooting and then have my shit be aired on the news for every bastard to see', everyone seemed to think toward the more memorable mass shootings when they debated. That didn't seem quite right; there couldn't be too many mass shootings, right?
A quick Google search (as well as twenty minutes of YouTube, just for a bit of mental rest) reassured him that it was not. Over half of American gun deaths were suicides. Sure, suicide wasn't necessarily something people thought about when they thought of 'gun violence'... but it was the majority of gun deaths, and that was a number people thought about.
Suicide was a little depressing. Perhaps America would call it a day and resume his work tomorrow...
A week later he was back on it. The problem with this was that he didn't know where to start. It wasn't an issue he'd really given thought to, after all; sure, it was a fairly large cause of death, but there were always bigger and worse things to worry about.
America moved to his computer to do some research, and eventually he stumbled across Preventing Suicide: A global imperative by the World Health Organization. America was no longer part of the World Health Organization, but he had been when this was written, and so it had to be excellent and worthwhile.
America started reading through it, but eventually he got bored and moved to do something else.
No, America. You need to do this. It's your job, he berated himself. Still, he was not a particularly disciplined man; America gave into senseless desires at least twice a week, after all. Driving fifteen minutes for a hamburger because he was too lazy to spend fifteen minutes making a simple dinner? Sure! Buying that one video game that he didn't really want- well, hey, it was half off! Putting your work off until later? No time like the present!
Even though he really did try his best to stay on task, three or four hours later he found himself in his living room, sitting through the end of a second movie. It was a very far cry from reading in his office.
(Linebreak.)
If America was going to 'fix' suicide, he needed to know who was committing suicide first. After a few articles he gathered that people from every group committed suicide, but more so old people.
Even though old people committed suicide more than other age groups, America still couldn't help thinking about his teenagers, even if they were too young to really remember anything that made a dent in his history. It seemed no one talked about old people, after all, but everyone talked about teenagers. Perhaps it was due to remaining years, but that seemed a bit... cruel.
So then, which age group sat directly between teenagers and old people? The middle-aged! Middle-aged people tended to take care of both groups, anyway. So maybe if he just... put out PSAs or something, about warning signs and stuff... America frowned. When had parents ever been reliable? When had children ever been reliable? America didn't have good experiences with being a child or being parented, after all.
America thought about it for a while and eventually decided that most people probably had decent relationships with their parents or children. Perhaps he needed to do more than just target the middle-aged, as bad relationships were still somewhat common, but that seemed a good place to start. He wrote it down.
...
Having access to something you can use to kill yourself makes it much easier to kill yourself. That's just the way it is.
Even if everyone was readily armed with what should be common knowledge, it wasn't like America could take guns away from everybody, because his people were Americans and if he tried to take even one type of weapon from him they'd call him the next Hitler- but then, it didn't matter because if he tried to take a certain type of gun from them it would make no dent in suicides. If they really wanted to, they would just get a different gun. Or maybe they'd hang themselves or poison themselves or jump off their apartment complex or forge documents saying they had a chronic illness and go to a state where there were death with dignity laws. America didn't know for sure that they would do all that, but his people were inventive and resourceful. No, America couldn't take away guns, nor did he want to. He would have to think of something else.
He couldn't take away guns from everybody, but maybe just the suicidal. It was sort of hard for the untrained eye to tell if someone was suicidal, but maybe for those that definitely were there could be some sort of report method or something- the average concerned citizen, looking to save a life, could become a hero.
America sat in his office for around twenty minutes just thinking about it, until he remembered that those existed and they were called red flag laws by the general public.
He wasn't too familiar with them, as he didn't own a gun and he had no family or friends; all he knew was that some of is people didn't like them too much. (His ignorance was more than a little bit unacceptable, but America had been keeping to himself a lot in the past few years and hadn't been studying the gun laws that he didn't really need to worry about.) America decided he'd read about them a little. The first website he found said that they were very useful, but when he checked the url it was, naturally, Everytown. America had no particular inclination to use reliable resources, but he decided that the least he could do for his citizens (aside from paying a shit ton of taxes over the course of his life) was read something other than the page of some random organization.
Nothing was too reliable, actually, but America would have to make do. In the end there wasn't enough support to warrant a federal red flag law; there were more opposers than Californians- according to a poll done by the NPR, 23%- and that was a fuckton too many people. Usually America wouldn't care if 49% of his people disagreed with his take on an issue- he might not even care if it was a slight majority (see 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016). This was very different; this dealt with guns.
Besides, if his people didn't like it, they just wouldn't enforce it. Take Colorado, for instance, where half the counties were 'sanctuary counties' (God, America hated the word 'Sanctuary'). Then again, Colorado had proved itself to be a failure at enforcing things.
...
The only thing that stood out to America in the next few articles was that men committed suicide far more often than women in many parts of the world, including his country. He hadn't noticed this at first. As a country, everyone just seemed to focus suicide prevention talk on teenage girls, or at least that was where the attention went for suicide in general.
So then, send out PSAs about male suicide. That seemed easy enough, right?
...
American suicide rates were increasing, a fact that brought a bit more seriousness to America's task. It wasn't that he wasn't serious before, it was just- well, he ought to get back on track.
Risk factors, according to that one old WHO report and a couple random websites (America didn't trust the current WHO, but this relic of the past had to be fine; even if it wasn't, the internet was plenty reliable):
Stigma against mental health/ making mental health into a taboo. America felt he was okay about that; his people were always oversharing. Maybe he could improve a little; he'd have to research that later.
Easy access to methods of suicide. Nothing to be done about that, was there?
Inappropriate news coverage. America didn't like the news and how they covered things either, but they were private businesses and they could do what they wanted. What, did people want the government to regulate it or something? That would be really bad. While some stations did report and emphasize suicides, most of the big ones were political and actively ignored anything that didn't fit their agenda- if there was an article about a suicide, it would just be one or two. It was the smaller, more gossipy news sources that America had to worry about, but then, how much did he have to worry about them?
Okay, so that wasn't very helpful. Perhaps America's opinions shouldn't have seeped through so much, particularly with the news coverage thing, but there was one thing he could work to fix: stigma against mental health. Again, America thought he was okay with that; people in his country were growing more and more alright with discussing mental health.
After a bit of research, America discovered that, okay, they weren't doing so great. So what could he do about this? More PSAs. Tens of millions of dollars worth of PSAs. America didn't know how much people would listen to him- he was a fed, after all, and who liked feds anymore?- but he could certainly try.
...
Another risk factor: a history of abuse or loss. So what did that mean? More help and support for the bereaved and survivors! Wasn't that so easy?
It wasn't easy.
The first thing America could do was get CPS's shit together. He wasn't sure how much that would help, but every once in a while someone appeared with the intent to do something about it and then would go away without doing anything. CPS was both state-funded and federally funded... so maybe change funds federally?
Or he could just stop focusing on forcing families back together when it clearly wasn't safe... or he could focus on getting more people to become foster parents, somehow, and try to find people that weren't shitty enough to take a kid in only for a paycheck. In other words, he could try to make sure he was getting things right, or at least that there was improvement.
America was only so educated- that was to say, he never went to college, and even though he was gifted with human intelligence he still decided to be a dumbass at every turn- and this was more of a state's thing, even if the federal government was involved in it.
America tried not to read up on his issues too often, only every Presidential election year- and those were only the major issues; children and child-related things didn't count. Of course America had read once or twice about a multitude of issues, but not enough- all of his issues, big or small, depressed him. CPS and the state of foster care were no exception.
He would look up what to do! That was what the internet was for, wasn't it?
... and the internet mostly produced results of parents talking about what to do if their child was taken away unjustly.
He would look up what to do about foster care!
... and the internet mostly produced results of foster parents talking about how great their foster kids were, or how tragic the stories, or how to make a foster kid feel at home. That was nice and all, but America noticed that there weren't many posts from former foster children.
A lot of articles, threads, etc. that he came across were, surprisingly enough, pro-life vs. pro-choice; the pro-choice people were posting about how life is suffering and abortion can prevent abuse by preventing parenthood in the first place, and the pro-life group was talking about how fucked up it was to use foster kids as an example. This debate made up a lot of search results, and when America went to any major social media website it made up a lot of the posts there, too. America felt that pro-life vs. pro-choice really needed to shut the fuck up; if they actually cared, they wouldn't post all of this on the internet under certain hashtags, effectively drowning out posts that were actually related to foster care. Neither side proposed solutions.
Of course the foster parents were off in their own little corner, talking like parents but replacing questions about babies with how to make a child feel at home or how to decorate a room for a kid you've never met and things of that sort. America wondered if he came across any shitty foster parents' posts, and he wondered if he'd ever know; on the internet they all seemed loving and caring, really good-natured people, but America knew that someone could appear fine and caring and loving while still treating their charges poorly in private.
/
Fine. He would look into getting help for the bereaved. From the little America could tell or find, it wasn't regarded as much of a risk factor compared to other risk factors (abuse, previous suicide attempts) but it was still fairly high up there.
He looked into it, but he found little mentioned except bereavement leave. America imagined it helped- not that he'd know, as he didn't know what grief was anymore- but it couldn't possibly be enough.
Eventually he came up with the perfect solution: PSAs aimed at relatives or friends of the bereaved, but also at the bereaved. Perhaps he could encourage them to get therapy he definitely wasn't going to pay for, depending on the incident, or maybe he could encourage them to join a support group through such efforts. He'd have to think on it.
...
America next read about various mental illnesses. Maybe he could prevent those people from committing suicide first, and then... and then what? America wasn't sure, but he would figure it out. It was his job, and he would have to try.
Reading about types of depression and anxiety and OCD and PTSD was all interesting and everything, but what actually caught America's attention was that many of the articles he read were either Canadian or from the UK. He wouldn't have been nearly so observant if not for the resources listed at the end of most articles.
America decided he would call one of them about it. When he stopped reading and went to call, America couldn't remember Canada's number, nor had he saved it on his phone, so he called England about it.
"America, the next time you decide to call me you should take timezones into consideration."
America ignored that; England picked up immediately, so he obviously hadn't been asleep. "England, what are you doing to prevent suicide?"
"Are you asking because you want to know or because you want to copy me?"
"Because I want to... because of both."
England sighed. "Okay. I'll just tell you the things that you could probably do, then."
England probably thought America was incompetent, so America was less than pleased about that. Whatever. He'd look it up later, and since England had already given him a primer on the subject, he'd actually understand what was going on instead of just zoning out.
"Okay. The first thing you can do is provide universal mental health care."
"Mental health care is health care and therefore it shouldn't be universal." England had nothing to say to that; America was back on track with his American-ness, at least, and he couldn't be bothered over what England thought of his statement. The younger nation waited a moment and then prompted, "You know, you have a lot of information out there about abuse and mental illnesses and stuff. You have a lot of resources, too."
"Oh, that. Yes, I guess you could do that," England said quietly. "Some of your people use my resources and information- it's free to the public- but certain things are only accessible in the UK. You should find out which things aren't open to Americans and then make your own. My websites can't provide anything other than UK resources; they're made for the UK. Make your own."
"Can't you just tell me?" America whined.
"I'm not going to do all of your work for you. I have to go, America." England paused and added, "Your crisis lines- you've probably got enough of those. Now just focus on improving them and getting information out there." And then he was gone.
Well, America thought, that was rude! And America had even been kind enough to give a passing shit about the UK's citizens!
America looked into it afterward. The UK had their own support forums, and a lot of them; not like America's, which he'd scattered here and there.
Something federal, then- California couldn't take care of everybody, and it wasn't like they would want to when everyone constantly shat on them; besides, they had bigger things to worry about than whether someone from Delaware was calling California Youth. America had SAMHSA and the APA, but neither seemed quite as efficient as the UK's stuff. Perhaps America did have great stuff out there, but if he did, an exhaustive day's search yielded none of it. The closest thing he found, on SAMSHA's website, was a few PDFs about keeping families together through times of alcoholism and general strife. America was beginning to wonder if his ideals really matched those of his citizens, but no matter. The PDFs had probably helped a lot of people with something or other.
...
Schools. America could put more effort into schools. He had no idea what schools were doing to stop teenage suicide, but there was an easy way to find out.
America went to the convenience store on the other end of the block. He knew the family well enough, as he went to this store whenever he felt like getting a drink or snack. Anyway, their teenage daughter worked a couple shifts a week at the store, and she was the only young person America knew. America was tired of looking everything up and he wanted to converse with his citizens for once, but he still needed to do his work. This had to be the least creepy way to fulfill all requirements, even if talking to a random teenage girl about something potentially somewhat personal was still kind of weird.
He walked into the convenience store. The girl, Kim, was doing her homework behind the counter. She looked up and then went back to her work.
America bought a newspaper, just because he didn't feel like buying food or a drink. When he reached the counter he asked, "Hey, Kim, what's your school doing to prevent suicide?" Kim, like most children, was a victim of public schools. America figured it was better to ask her than to reach out to some random principal.
Kim looked somewhat annoyed to be asked something she would have to spend a certain amount of time explaining, but she rummaged around her backpack and pulled out a card. "They gave us this," she said. "That's about it." She handed it to America.
America took it from her and flipped it in his hands. It said, We're always here for you, and listed multiple numbers, such as the one for the 24/7 Crisis Line and the Trevor Project.
"What do you think about it?" America asked, giving it back to her.
"I think it's pretty worthless, but maybe they helped someone."
America was inclined to agree with that. The problem wasn't that they listed numbers; it was that they only listed numbers. He didn't know what to do about schools- he didn't even really know what schools were like outside of movie sets- but he could say that a bit more than this needed to be done.
America left the convenience store and was about to throw the newspaper out when he decided that he'd bought it and would force himself to read it.
PRESIDENT SAYS: YOU'RE EITHER FOR US OR AGAINST US!
America was sure that his boss hadn't said that, although it was possible- he remembered a while back when that had been the general message of one of the parties. That message had been around for a while, actually, but there was only one time in recent history where the message had been carried on by a politician.
Even if it was possible, this was what newspapers were talking about these days? No wonder they were going out of business! America could've read the same shit for free instead of on expensive weak paper!
...
Okay. The actual last thing America could do was think about how states were doing in terms of gun deaths, since they were allowed to make their own laws and shit. It wasn't necessarily connected to suicide, but it was important to take into consideration.
He looked at the statistics from 2018, according to the CDC (2018 being the most recent year available): Rhode Island (#1, with the least gun deaths per capita), Massachusetts (#2), Hawaii (#3), New York (#4), and New Jersey (#5). It looked like things were going well for the North and Hawaii; good for them.
The worst states in regards to gun deaths: Louisiana (#46), Missouri (#47), Wyoming (#48), Alabama (#49), and Mississippi (#50, with the most gun deaths per capita). Thank God for Mississippi, America thought bitterly. In all fairness to the Southern states and Wyoming, the CDC website did say that states with smaller numbers could be untrustworthy due to a lack of proper adjustments or whatever the fuck.
America sat in his office, whistling and drumming his fingers on his desk. The divide obviously wasn't South vs. North; that wouldn't make sense, as a geographic location couldn't lead to more gun deaths- could it? (Not to mention the West, but if America ever thought about anything out West except for California it was because something horrible had happened). No, it had to be something about the people. So then what was it about the people? What made these states so different? They were all American, after all.
In the end America determined that, hey, correlation couldn't possibly be causation, right? He still printed out the page for his boss.
(Linebreak.)
America held his two pieces of paper close. Technically this list was supposed to be classified information, but nobody would look at it and go, "Huh, that's going to the President." It wasn't like anyone was dying to know America's ideas for preventing suicides, either. It would be fine on the plane.
He looked down at his list again:
- PSAs targeting the middle aged/ about male suicide/ about mental health/ about how to comfort the bereaved
- Publish information on mental illness, abuse, and suicide
America didn't think PSAs would do much, but he hoped that if he aired them enough his citizens would have the information in case they ever needed it.
He put the two pieces of paper in his bag and decided to take a nap.
...
America's boss looked over the two pieces of paper. America waited for him to read through them, and once he'd given his boss a good two or three minutes he said, "It won't prevent everything. We still need to check suicide rates to see what's working and what isn't, and we need everybody to work together."
His boss ignored him, instead choosing to read through each one several times. Finally he looked up and said, "America, this is worthless."
"What? Why?"
"This won't stop the gun problem."
"It'll prevent a lot of deaths, hopefully. Maybe it won't prevent all suicides, but nothing can prevent all of them. That doesn't mean we just give up."
"It might prevent deaths," his boss agreed, "but it won't prevent debates. Nobody talks about suicide when they talk about gun deaths; they talk about school shootings."
"But school shootings are nothing compared to suicides and homicides," America argued. "And suicides contribute the majority of gun deaths; people bring up the numbers."
"They do, but people wouldn't talk about it at all if there weren't mass shootings to reignite the debate."
"Oh, right. Right, right, right." Pause. "So what do you want me to do now?" America asked rather wearily.
"I want you to brainstorm ways to stop mass shootings."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know. Figure it out," America's boss said, rubbing his temples. "The gun debate- it's getting on my nerves, how frequently it's brought up and how futile proposed solutions are."
"I don't know; Rhode Island and Massachusetts and Hawaii seem to be doing alright. Even New York and California are okay, and I mean, come on-,"
"That's all just a coincidence," his boss interrupted.
"Okay."
"So anyway- mass shootings. Figure that out."
...
America went home fairly pissed off, just as much as he usually was. This was all just a game to his boss; the only reason he had to work on this at all was because his boss was annoyed by the issue. Of course he was; everyone was, to some extent. The monotony of the proposed solutions and the same arguments could irritate anyone who was reading up on American issues in time for elections, not to mention anyone who just paid attention in the first place. But no- America's boss couldn't just deal with it like any other person, like any other politician, in the country. He had to go and order America around, giving him a relatively impossible task as if no one had ever thought up ways to stop mass shootings on a national scale before.
The worst obstacle I've come across while writing this story, in case you were wondering, is that no matter what I do my information is outdated. Not only is it outdated, I know exactly how outdated it is.
Anyway, sorry for not updating for a while. I got a new core memory a while back, and typically when you don't plan for those things they're pretty bad; such is the case with mine. Immediately after that, like less than sixteen hours later, I started school. As it is I've been rather tired and I've mostly been writing things that pop into my head rather than things that require me to do a certain amount of research.
This chapter is 4,600 words or so without the A/Ns. A review would be wonderful. Have an amazing day and stay safe.