Do You Believe There’s Help to Cry For?

The first time Wentworth Miller tried to kill himself, he was 15. Fifteen. An age when your whole life is before you, when you know that soon you’ll be out on your own to chase those dreams that lead you further into who you were meant to be! Yet, it’s still not quite within reach.

How hopeless do you have to be to want to end it all?

As a gay teenager, Miller — actor from Prison Break, Underworld, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Human Stain — could see no hope, no way out of his isolation.

When asked if his suicide attempt at 15 was a cry for help, he said no. “You only cry for help if you believe there’s help to cry for. And I didn’t.”

Miller, like so many others, had no reason to trust when he  — and others like him — had to speak their truth. To be integrated as a human being, you have to voice who you are. But you want a place safe enough to do that. If you are gay, to speak up means you stand to lose even your family.

When we have no hope, it’s because we simply cannot believe anything positive exists for us. We cannot imagine that the angst ahead will ever give way to a broader, more helpful possibility.

But better days are ahead. There is hope. There is always hope.

Reach out. It Gets Better Project. Ears Wide Open. The Trevor Project. A Note to My Kid. These and other helps are on my Resources page.

The road of discovery is just that — a road. It takes time and movement to travel. Now, Wentworth Miller is a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. He is changing lives. His story and his courage inspires others. Who knew?