For most of us, the last week marked a painful anniversary. There has been a meme going around different social media sites stating that “last year this time was our last normal week and no one knew it.” This is a fitting statement as in the United States we are coming up on the one-year anniversary of how the pandemic’s formal arrival has shifted our lives long-term.

Repeat after me: “Having been created in the image of God, all humans are equal in value, honor, and dignity.”  It’s a statement that I go over and over again in my theology classes. It begins freshmen year, when we encounter God in Genesis muddying his hands as He shapes his beloved creation in His own image. It continues through senior year as students consider the root of ethics: all humans have a common, innate dignity, derived from their relationship with the Creator, which compels that we love one another. Any ethical system devoid of that truth fails to maintain the intrinsic dignity of humanity.

If you need help, tell someone immediately. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, call 911, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

I was getting ready early one morning, when I received a frantic call.

“Go straight to the middle school,” my coworker urged. “A seventh-grader, Chelsea, committed suicide last night. The school needs you.”