Since 2013, people all over the world have been getting semicolon tattoos as a stand against suicide.
According to Project Semicolon: “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.”
This message resonated with Edgardo Marcelo Jr., an IT professional from San Mateo, Rizal.
He was so inspired that he decided up put up the Philippine chapter of the suicide prevention and mental health awareness campaign. “I wanted to help depressed and suicidal people,” he said.
Emar is no stranger to depression. “I tried everything to ease my sufferings. It comes to the point that I want to end everything.”
It was Fr. Larry Paz who helped him through that difficult period in his life. “I finally learned to accept and embrace the future.” It was after this period that Emar “decided to create an organization to let others feel that there is still hope.”
It’s a beautiful chain reaction that carries on: the people seeking help eventually join the group as volunteers. “We can save lives and they can save others as well,” Emar said.
And no, you don’t need a tattoo to join the group.
Find the Semicolon Tattoo Project- Philippine Chapter at https://facebook.com/thesemicolonph.
