April 8: A day late… Queen ~ Under Pressure (Performed by Annie Lennox & David Bowie and the cast of “Smash”)

I know you folks have been waiting with baited breath (eww) for the next post in the series. I’m 20 days behind now, and I’ve decided that the better part of valor is to let those days go, and restart this week with the looser theme of “whatever makes me happy or think or smile” instead.

And on this day, seemingly random though it may be to most of you, I am picking from a different source. Queen’s song, with Bowie’s counterpoint, is a chilling reminder that there are people who find it hard to swim through the daily grind, who exist outside the bubble of happiness, or at least, can’t quite push themselves to one more day of the same. For whom joy and happiness remain permanently elusive.

I’m not inclined to drift that way because I quite firmly believe this is the place, and that there’s nothing on the other side to greet me if I cross over, but for some people, the pain of day to day living is simply unbearable. 

We lost one of those people last night. The signs were there. Heck, some folks would say the signs have been there for a few weeks. But I missed the one key post, the warning. I sat up through a lot of last night, just feeling like I couldn’t go to sleep. 

This morning, I knew what the signs were pointing to, too late to do anything but stare helplessly at the news.

Those cries for help? Take them seriously. 

For my friends who are struggling every day, because the pain is so hard for them to bear.

I would post the original and leave it at that, but we don’t have rights to see it. Odds are excellent these will go away within the year, too.

and