Child #2 and I went food shopping today. We haven’t been to get food in quite a while. We knew it would be a long day, so we started early. Besides getting food we like to shop at resale stores. Money is extremely tight and if we can get the supplies we need at discounted prices, we will.
Child #2 and I are both decent seemstresses and have been able to fix really cool men’s t-shirts (they don’t make the same kind of cool t-shirts for women. We’ve looked.) into awesome women’s t-shirts by changing the collars. Be that as it may, I told you this to get to what happened today.
We were looking through the men’s t-shirts to see if we could find any neat ones from which we could make awesome women’s shirts. You just can’t find much in Marvel or smart-butt t-shirts in women’s. I was looking in my size and child #2 was looking in hers. I came across a grey t-shirt with pink silk-screening on the front. Nice color combination. That is until I realized what it actually had on it. It depicted a woman standing with a gun to her own head. She has obviously pulled the trigger, since there was splatter depicted. As the splatter spread out it turned into pink butterflies.
What?!! This was at a Christian establishment. I was appalled. As a mother of a child who has tried to commit suicide multiple times, I was completely triggered. I was so upset! I tried to get the attention of one clerk, but she apparently didn’t hear me. Another clerk noticed that I was trying to get help and asked if she could be of assistance. I had brought the shirt with me and showed it to her. I let her know that I was shocked that a Christian organization would have such a shirt. She agreed, as did the manager. The problem was that when clothing comes in, the clerks have to go through it so quickly to get it out on the floor, that they don’t always pay close attention.
I wasn’t blaming anyone. I’m sure they have a lot to do and a very limited time in which to do it. However, a shirt that glorifies the horror of suicide, is unacceptable. Any suicide. Especially, a suicide that is so graphic. I guess that was the designer’s plan.
Child #3 has tried to commit suicide on several occasions. The worst was the time she broke my pinky finger. She had taken a four-foot dog leash and wrapped it around her neck and hung it from her closet rod. My finger got broken as she was swinging at me trying to stop me from cutting her down. Pretty, right? Yeah.
Please stop glorifying something that is so painful, for both the person who is so depressed and hopeless that they want to end their life and for the people who they leave behind!
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