Jeremy Lin addresses suicide issue in his high school

Charlotte Hornets guard Jeremy Lin is one of the more popular players in the NBA today, and the Asian American pro is making sure that his global influence can help the younger generation, particularly in addressing the issue of suicides in high school.

In a recent post on his official Facebook page, Lin tackled the issue at length after reading the “The Silicon Valley Suicides,” an article from The Atlantic that talked about the “suicide clusters” at Palo Alto High School in California in the United States.

Lin grew up in the Bay Area and attended the same high school where the alarming incident of suicides has been reported in recent years.

“When I was a freshman at Palo Alto High, a classmate who sat next to me committed suicide. I remember having difficulty registering what had happened. A year later, a friend committed suicide,” Lin shared on the social media site. “I saw up close the pain and devastation of their loved ones and my community. I realized then that there are so many burdens we don’t see the people around us carrying. I told myself that I would try to be more sensitive and open to other people's struggles.”

According to save.org, there is one death by suicide in the United States every 13 minutes, and 38,000 Americans die by suicide every year.

Lin stated in his post that he could relate to students who had to handle the overwhelming pressure in school, particularly in their academics.

“The pressure to succeed in high school is all too familiar to me. I distinctly remember being a freshman in high school, overwhelmed by the belief that my GPA over the next four years would make or break my life,” Lin added.

But the 27-year-old Lin also said that there are ways to handle the pressure and one of which was that young ones should realize that they are not defined by their success or failure in school.

“As each year of high school passed by, I realized that even though there was pressure to be great, I had to make a personal choice not to define myself by my success and accomplishments,” Lin, who credited the support of his brother, pastor and friends on how to properly handle school pressure, said.

“Separating myself from my results is not an easy lesson and I’ve had to relearn this in every stage of my life.”

Lin ended his post by saying that while it’s still a mystery on how to “completely solve these [suicide] issues” he advised the young ones to have more time to “listen to each other, to reach out and have compassion on one another.”

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